Midnight Choices
by oxymorongurl127
Summary: What if Bella had been the vampire and Edward had been the human? What would she have done differently? Totally not a cliche - doesn't follow the Twilight plotline word for word. Actually has a different plot! This is my first fanfic - still in progress!
1. Meeting Edward Mason

Chapter 1 - Meeting Edward Mason

Bella POV

The first time that I saw him was at school in the lunch room. I don't know why we even bothered, but I suppose it was because we were still trying desperately to fit in at Forks High School. Never eating would probably draw attention to us, the one thing that none of us needed.

"How are you doing, Jas?" I whispered. No human would have ever been able to hear it, but everybody at our table could. Which would make sense, seeing as we weren't human. And judging by the stress leaking out from Jasper, he wasn't doing so good.

"Jas?" Alice muttered, trying to get his attention. He shook his head, barely visible.

"We could go," Emmett suggested. I was about to voice my agreement when I felt somebody staring at me.

"Alice," I hissed under my breath, "somebody is staring at me. Who is it?" Alice looked up imperceptibly.

"It's the new boy," she giggled.

"New boy?"

"I think his name is Edward. Edward Mason?" I looked up sharply at her.

"Edward Mason?" I hissed. "The one that you saw?" She just blinked her giant topaz eyes at me. Alice had been having visions for at least a month about something, but she wouldn't tell me what. The only clue that I had to what she had been seeing was a quietly muttered, "Mason. Edward Mason?" after one of her visions.

I narrowed my eyes at her and flipped my head around to glare at the new boy. When I saw him I gasped.

He was beautiful. One might almost mistake him for a vampire, he was so handsome. His green eyes gave away the fact that he was human, though. In a second I took it all in, his tousled bronze hair, dazzling green eyes, and almost perfect features. The only way that he could have been more amazing would be if he was one of us. As soon as I caught his eye he flashed me a perfect, crooked smile. I could almost swear that I felt my dead heart skip a beat.

"Oh. My. God." I muttered. "Alice, your sketches didn't do him justice." I heard her giggle and Rosalie kicked me.

"Stop your ogling, Bella. You look like an idiot," she hissed. I rolled my eyes and stood up, taking my tray full of uneaten food with me. My siblings silently stood up behind me and followed me out of the cafeteria as Edward Mason watched us leave with interest.

"I'm leaving," I told Alice when we were in the hall.

"Leaving school?" She asked. Smart aleck. Like she didn't already know.

"No," I answered anyways, "I'm just going to sit in my car until class. I'll see you after school."

"See ya, Bells," Emmett called as I walked down the hallway.

In the parking lot I found my car near the back. My car was my baby, a CLK350 Cabriolet Mercedes convertible in Capri Blue Metallic. Every one of my siblings had their favorite, and mine was this. Emmett had given it to me as a peacemaking gift when he totaled my Chevy pickup truck last year playing football with Jasper. Needless to say, Jasper had won the game. Even Rose hadn't been able fix it or hide the Emmett-shaped dent in the door.

After 20 minutes I left my car to go to Biology. I was early – the only one there. It gave me time to do today's Trigonometry homework. The work was easy; I had taken the class at least a three times in different high schools. By the time the rest of the class had arrived I was done with it. As I bent down to put my math book back in my backpack, the last student entered the room. When I sat back up, I was hit with it. Like a train going at full speed or an unstoppable meteorite the smell hit me. My mouth filled with sour venom and I gripped the bottom of my chair to keep from leaping up and destroying the source. It was Edward Mason. I could hear his heartbeat from across the room, pumping his deliciously scented blood through his veins. When he saw me he smiled his crooked smile. My eyes grew wide and I clenched my jaw, trying to swallow the venom that coated my tongue and teeth. I was so focused on not killing him that I didn't even notice the conversation that he was having with Mr. Banner, the biology teacher. When Mr. Banner pointed to me, however, I got a little nervous. A quick glance around the room confirmed my worst fear: the only empty seat was next to me.

"Damn it," I muttered, so quietly that not even a vampire could have hear me. My body grew stiff as Edward started to walk towards me. His scent enveloped me, making my head spin and my breathing come in short bursts. Just when I thought that I couldn't stand it anymore, I remembered. I didn't _have _to breathe. Duh. Immediately I stopped and blessed relief flooded my senses. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Edward take a seat. He didn't seem to notice my hostile body language, or he tried to ignore it.

"I'm Edward," he offered. I was silent. I couldn't answer. That would require breathing, which I just couldn't do. _You want to stay alive, human?_ I thought. _Then don't talk to me._

"Bella," I managed to mumble back without ripping into his jugular. This time he seemed to take the hint, however, and didn't say anything else. I sat in tense silence as the seconds slowly ticked by. It was the longest hour that I had ever lived, and that included when I was changed by Carlisle into a vampire. Try as I might the scent wouldn't leave my nose, its alluring sweetness just outside of my grasp. Edward took notes like the excellent student that he must have been, pausing only to brush his perfect copper hair out of his eyes every few minutes. I, on the other hand, stared at the clock, willing the second hand to move faster.

When the bell rang I shot out of the classroom as fast as could be thought of as humanly possible and flew out to my car. I glared at the doors and the opened automatically, courtesy of my telekinetic powers. Throwing my books behind me with way more force than necessary into the backseat of my car did nothing to calm me down, and neither did skidding out of the parking lot leaving a strip of rubber at least 20 feet long burned into the pavement. The needle on the speedometer never went below 105 mph as I sped home.

"Carlisle!" I screamed as soon as I slammed the door open, even though I knew that he could have heard me if I had whispered.

"Bella?" he replied calmly, downstairs in the blink of an eye.

"I'm leaving," I hissed, running to my room.

"Leaving?" he asked, already in my room with me.

"Yes. I have to. Ask Alice when she gets home," I tried to explain as I grabbed up my guitar in it's case and slung my purse over my shoulder.

"Will you be back soon?" Carlisle persisted, following me out to my car, still running in the driveway. I slid into the drivers seat and looked him in the eye.

"I really don't know. Tell Esme I'm sorry." With one final look at the house I slammed my foot on the gas pedal and sped out of Forks, Washington.


	2. She Doesn't Date

**A/N: Wow! Like, 10 minutes after I posted the first chapter I got and e-mail saying that I had been added to somebody's auto alert thing for when I post more! I'm so happy! I really hope to get some reviews, unless I've already started to get them – I wouldn't know, I haven't checked. Anyways, I think that I'll do some from Edward's perspective in this chapter, see how it turns out. On with the show!**

**Oh, and by the way, I couldn't possibly own Twilight. Ever. I'm so not that good an author! So I'm not Stephanie Meyer and I most definitely don't own Twilight or any of the characters.**

Chapter 2 – She Doesn't Date

Edward POV

The first day of school was fine. Really, it was just fine. That is, until I saw _them_. They were sitting all alone in at a table in the corner, staring at the floor or at the table and not eating anything. There were three girls and two guys, all way to beautiful looking for Forks High School. They should have been models or movie stars, not just mere high school students. And all of them shared some kind of subtle resemblance. It might have been their pale, pale skin or the dark purple rings under their eyes that made it look like they were all suffering from lack of sleep or recovering from a broken nose.

"Who are they?" I asked the boy who was sitting next to me. Was his name Mike? It must have been. Mike Newton.

"Them?" he snorted, tipping his head towards the people. I nodded silently. Mike Newton had been a pain so far, way to talkative and quick to please. Maybe this could redeem him.

"The Cullens and Hale's. Rosalie and Jasper Hale, Alice, Emmett, and Bella Cullen. They moved here from Alaska at the beginning of the year," he said.

"Thanks," I muttered. But Mike wasn't finished yet.

"Yeah, but there's more. They were adopted by Dr. and Mrs. Cullen, and they're all _together._ Jasper and Alice, Rosalie and Emmett. Bella's the only single one." Something in his voice made me look up. I almost grinned. _She's turned him down before, _I concluded.

"Which one is Bella?" I asked. Mike pointed to the brunette one and glowered. I studied her closer.

She wasn't the prettiest one or the tallest or stood out amongst her siblings, but there was just something about her. Some kind of classic beauty or strength that made my heart beat faster just by looking at her.

"Don't even bother," Mike muttered. "She's vicious and cruel. And doesn't date. I guess nobody's good enough for her."

**A/N: Sorry that was so short, but I really wanted to get back into Bella's POV, and I thought that I could do that best in another chapter. Thanks to everybody that reviewed so far!**


	3. Making Choices

**Hey everybody! Sorry it's been so long, but there was so much stuff the past few days! Basketball games, snowboarding, school stuff, ect. You know it! Thanks for everybody that reviewed!**

**So I guess by now everybody knows that when Edward left after his first time meeting Bella, he went to Alaska to hang with the other veggie vamps and try to get some self control so that he wouldn't kill Bella. Anyways, this was my version of what would have happened, except with Bella instead, so it's a wee bit different.**

Chapter 3 – Making Choices

Bella POV

It took me just over a day to get to Denali. I was going to Alaska to stay with Tanya and her coven… and to get away from Edward Mason before I completely lost control. The drive was completely silent; I didn't even bother to turn on the radio or a CD. What I needed was time to think. Why had Edward's blood called to me like that? It had never happened to me, in all of the 50 plus years that I had been a vampire. And none of my siblings had noticed it, at least not from what I could tell. Why hadn't Alice seen how I would react to him? Or had she and just not told me? I slammed my hand into the steering wheel in frustration, holding back just enough so that I wouldn't break it.

Tanya and her family welcomed me as soon as I stepped out of my car and onto their driveway, no questions asked. They could tell that something was seriously wrong for me to be fuming and glowering so much and kind of backed off as soon as I was inside. Only Tanya herself dared to be near me.

"Bella," she started the moment I sat on her couch, "we're very happy to have you here, but I do need to know _why_ you're here."

I slumped against the couch, looking rather deflated.

"It's kind of complicated," I muttered.

"I think that I could understand," Tanya challenged.

"It's a guy," I started.

"You ran away from Forks all the way to Denali because of boy problems?" Tanya guessed.

"No," I snorted. "It's a little bit more complicated than that. It's just…" Tanya was silent as I tried to word it right "…it kind of took all the self control in my body not to kill him."

Tanya looked a little shocked. "Oh?"

"Yeah. I don't know why, it was just… his blood, I guess. It was so… different than all the other humans. So much better smelling. And I don't know why, but nobody else seemed to notice it, just me," I tried to explain. "Does that make any sense?" Tanya nodded.

"I believe that it's happened before. In fact, it happened to me once, and Jasper as well. I was very young, though, and had far less self control," Tanya murmured.

"So you…" I trailed off.

"Killed him," Tanya finished. "Before I even knew what I was doing, he was dead. It's just a show of how much control you have that you didn't kill this boy."

"I almost did," I muttered. "I can't believe that Alice didn't see that." We were silent for a moment.

"You know that you can't stay here forever," Tanya finally said, breaking the silence.

"I know," I sighed. "And I know that I'll have to go back eventually and face him. But I just don't know if I can do it quite yet."

"You can stay here for as long as you wish," Tanya invited.

"Thank you," I replied. "I really need to hunt, though."

"Certainly," Tanya consented, gesturing to the French doors leading to the patio and beyond that the thick Alaskan forest.

"I'll be back soon!" I called back to Tanya, already running out into the woods as fast as I could move. The last thing I heard before the silence of the woods was her laughing.

Edward POV

Biology was horrible. First day of school, and already somebody seems to hate me. And that somebody was Bella Cullen.

I had no idea why she seemed to loath me so. All I did was sit in the one empty seat in biology, which just so happened to be next to her, and introduce myself.

"I'm Edward," I had declared. She was completely silent and looked almost as if she wasn't breathing. All she did was stare at me and grip the back of her chair so hard that the tendons in her hands stood out clearly. Right when I had resigned myself to being ignored by her forever, she answered me.

"Bella," she hissed, sounding as if she was trying to hold her breath. She looked like she was about to kill somebody, so I didn't try to talk to her anymore. For the entire period of class I could have sworn that I didn't see her breath once, or move a muscle.

When the bell rang, Bella shot out of the classroom before I had even closed my binder. By the time I got outside to the parking lot, she was nowhere to be seen. Her siblings were around a bright red BMW convertible, shooing away the hoards of people ogling the car. Bella was nowhere to be seen.

_I wonder if she was running away from me…_ I thought as I walked to my car. It was a silver junky Toyota that my mother had bought me for my sixteenth birthday, just over a year ago. It wasn't what I wanted, no way, but it ran okay and was what I needed – a car of my own.

When I got home I went straight to doing my homework. My mom wouldn't be home for another three hours or so; she was a single mother and worked full time to support us. After my father had left when I was just three years old, my mom and I had been on our own. I had learned to take care of myself at a pretty young age because of that.

As hard as I tried to focus, though, the only thing that I could think about was Bella Cullen. The way that she had looked at me, it was… indescribable. _If looks could kill,_ I found myself thinking.


	4. Where's Bella?

Chapter 4 – Where's Bella?

Edward POV

It took two weeks for Bella Swan to return to school. Nobody that I had spoken to knew why she had disappeared, and I had been far to scared to ask any of her siblings. They had all stayed at school, arriving on time every day… except for the rare sunny days when they went camping.

The day that she came back I had already resigned myself to the fact that I would never have a lab partner in biology. She had been gone for two weeks without a trace, so I was certain that she wouldn't be returning.

At first people had talked about her unexpected disappearance, and I had heard so many theories about why she was gone I was about to explode. Especially when Mike kept on asking me why I thought that she was gone.

"After all, you were her lab partner," he reasoned for the tenth time in two week as we studied together in the library during lunch with some of his friends.

"Mike, I was her lab partner for _one day_," I growled. "I have no idea where she is, for the tenth time. You have to stop asking me."

"Fine," he muttered, going back to his English homework. I looked around at the people that I was with – Mike, of course, but also Eric, Tyler, Ben, Angela, and Jessica. They had quickly welcomed me into their group, and I was thankful for it. But it still didn't seem like we were that good friends, like they were wary to let me in all the way.

_I wonder what it is,_ I thought as I studied my calculus homework. I thought that I had been nice enough. But it just seemed like I didn't really click with people in general. Like I was never quite on the same level as them, even with the people that I was closest to like my mom.

Angela stood up, bringing me back. She closed her notebook and gathered up her stuff.

"Okay, you guys, I think that I'm going to go to class now," she announced. Ben jumped up.

"I'll go with you, Ange," he said, closing his own books. I stood up as well.

"I'll go with you guys, too. I'm headed to biology," I added. Anything to get away from Mike.

Outside the wind was picking up and it was starting to rain. _Great,_ I thought, _more rain._

"You think there'll be a storm tonight?" I asked, directing the question in the general direction of Ben and Angela.

"There's supposed to be," Angela said.

"Yeah, it said that on the weather report this morning," Ben added. Great. During the last big storm our power had been knocked out for an entire day at our house. And that had only been last week.

"Wonderful," I muttered. By that time we had reached the calculus building.

"Ben and I have calculus next, so I guess we'll see you later," Angela explained as her and Ben headed for their building.

"Right," I replied. "See you later." The biology building wasn't that far away, but by the time I reached it the rain had already picked up and it was pouring. I ran the rest of the way with my book bag held up over my head to ward of the rain. When I reached the door my hair was damp but not dripping and there were water spots all over my sweatshirt.

_Shouldn't have left my raincoat in my car,_ I thought as I opened the door and headed to my seat, tugging on my damp shirtsleeves. When I reached my seat and finally looked up, I almost jumped a mile.

Bella Cullen was sitting next to me.

**A/N: Hey, sorry that was so short! I'll try and make the next one longer… maybe I'll finish it tomorrow or the next day. Who knows! Depends on how much homework I get, I guess. Thanks to everybody that reviewed! Hugs and cookies for you all. Review if you love me!**


	5. Biology with Edward

**This chapter is officially dedicated to Heath Ledger. My fake history with him will never be forgotten. (Mradrz4evr, you'll get that) Anyways, hope that u guys like it! It sure took long enough to write…**

Chapter 5 – Biology with Edward

Bella POV

I watched Edward come in the door and waited for him to see me. He didn't look up until he was sitting right next to me, though. When he finally did, he jumped like he had been stuck with a pin.

"Hello, Edward," I said smoothly.

"Bella," he replied, trying to regain his composure. I could hear his heart thumping away, however. "You've been gone for a while," he continued.

"Yes," I responded just as coolly, "I was on a trip in Alaska, visiting some family friends." Not a lie. I was in Alaska and I was visiting family friends. I just wasn't saying why.

"May I ask why?" he asked. I looked in his green eyes. They were just so pretty…

"Family death," I blurted before I could stop myself. Inwardly I berated myself. Family death? Why the hell did I say that?

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," I quickly replied, shaking my head. "It's still just too fresh in my mind." That was good, working the emotions. As long as he thought that I was too broken up about the 'death' he wouldn't bother me about it.

"But your family didn't go with you?" He pressed. Once again I inwardly kicked myself.

"No, they weren't close with her. Actually had a falling out a few years back, to tell the truth," I lied. Might as well make it big if I was going to lie to begin with. Edward looked taken aback.

"Oh," was all that he could say. _Great,_ I thought, _I've scared him away. Perfect._

Mr. Banner took that moment to come in. He stood behind his desk and shuffled some papers until the bell rang, and then looked up at us.

"Good afternoon, class. Glad to see you're back Ms. Cullen," he announced. "Today we'll be separating the slides of onion root tip cells into their respective phases of mitosis and label them accordingly. The slides in the boxes," he indicated to the boxes on each of our desks, "are out of order. Your job is to put them back in order. No using your books, and in 20 minutes I'll be checking on who has it right."

I pulled the box closer to me as Edward grabbed the microscope.

"Will you be able to do this? You have been gone for a while," Edward asked.

"Yes, I will," I replied. It really would be. That wasn't a lie, I had done this lab many times already. "Go ahead," I added, motioning to the box. Edward grabbed one of the slides and positioned it on the microscope as he adjusted the eyepiece to the 40X objective. He studied it briefly.

"Prophase," he confidently assessed. I was surprised. Most people in the class had trouble distinguishing one slide from the other, much less name which was which.

"Do you mind if I look?" I asked. He pushed the microscope over to me, and our hands accidentally brushed in the process. I automatically stiffened and whipped my hand back.

"Sorry," I muttered, taking the microscope. I studied it for a second, and then confirmed what Edward had said.

"Prophase," I agreed, writing it on the worksheet and switching out the slide.

"Anaphase," I concluded after a moment of studying.

"May I?" Edward asked, sounding indifferent. I nodded, pushing the microscope towards him.

"Anaphase," he agreed, sounding disappointed. "Slide three?"

I handed it to him, being careful not to touch his skin. No need to make anything more complicated for me. It was already hard enough to resist him without touching him.

Edward studied the slide for a second.

"Interphase," he announced and passed me the microscope before I could even ask for it. I glanced at it swiftly and wrote it down on the paper.

We were finished identifying the slides before anybody else. A look around the room confirmed that nobody else was even close to getting it. There was an akward silence between us and I looked down at my hands as I twisted my fingers together. When I looked up, Edward was studying me with a confused expression on his face.

"Did you get contacts?" he suddenly asked, breaking the silence.

"No," I shook my head. Why would he ask _that_?

"I'm sorry," he mumbled. "It was just your eyes… they look different today." I shrugged, trying to cover up the fact that I knew exactly what he was talking about. When I had first met Edward I hadn't hunted for maybe a week or so and my eyes were almost black. I had gone hunting just last night because I knew that I would be around Edward and didn't want to be as tempted so they were more of a light ocher color today. My nails dug into my skin as I clenched my hand in a tight fist.

My mental anguish was interrupted by Mr. Banner as he came to check on what Edward and I had done so far. He studied our paper for a moment and then made a huffing noise.

"Isabella, didn't you think that Edward ought to have a chance to identify some of the slides?" he asked.

"Actually," I coolly replied, "Edward identified three of the five slides." Mr. Banner looked at Edwards sideways.

"Were you in an advanced placement class at your old school?" he asked him. Edward nodded.

"And you already did this lab then?"

Edward nodded again.

"I guess you'll make perfect lab partners, then," Mr. Banner muttered as he walked away.

**Thanks to everybody that interviewed! Sorry that this took so long - there's been a lot to do lately! Maybe I'll be able to work on it tomorrow if we have a snowday. That's right, mradrz4evr, we might have a snowday! And it's snowing right now... it's so pretty & makes me want to write and drink hot chocolate. perhaps I'll do that tomorrow. **


	6. Family Talks

**A/N: Hmm… just realized that I haven't been writing any disclaimers. Well, anybody who reads this can tell that I'm not Stephanie Meyer, and so there fore I don't own any of the characters. What a shame. **

Chapter 6 – Family Talks

Bella's POV

"I'm so glad you're home again!" Alice squealed for the twenty-seventh time that day as I drove home.

"I've heard you're so glad, Alice," I muttered. "I've heard quite a few times."

"I mean, I didn't see when you'd be back, I didn't even know that you'd be back at all! And then just last night, there you are!"

"There I was…" I growled.

"Yay! I just can't get over it. We have to go shopping…"

"Alice…" I warned.

"Okay, fine, not right away. But eventually. Rose absolutely _refused_ to. And then Jasper got really mad at me, too, because I made him come along and…"

"Alice…" I warned, louder this time.

"Okay, okay," she sighed. We were quite for a moment.

"I'm still glad to have you home, though," she said as we pulled into the driveway.

"I'm glad to be home," I relented. As soon as I stepped out of my car, Emmett came sprinting out of the house, trailed by a scowling Rosalie.

"Bella!" He yelled, tackling me to the ground. "You're back! You didn't run away during school again!"

"I was back last night, Emmett. It's not my fault you weren't here," I growled as I struggled to get up.

"Sure, sure," Emmett laughed, letting me get up. Rosalie glared at him from the front porch. Emmett ran up to her and slipped his arm around her waist.

"Sorry, Rose," he apologized, kissing the top of her head. She pursed her lips and then smiled.

"It's okay, Emmett. Nice to see you, Bella," she added. I nodded in acknowledgment and bent to brush the dirt of my knees. When I looked back up, Emmett and Rosalie had already gone inside. Alice was leaning against the hood of my car, waiting for me.

"Come on, Bella. Let's go inside," she said, standing up. I followed her inside and to the living room, then threw myself on one of the couches. Alice sat down delicately on a chair across from me.

"So what exactly did happen?" she prodded. I grabbed a pillow and hugged it tightly.

"Didn't you see?" I asked. Alice shook her head.

"I only saw what could have happened. I didn't see why," she explained.

"I don't even really know why, Alice," I admitted. "It was just… him."

"Edward?"

"Yeah. I have no idea why, but it was his blood. It was different than any that I had ever... smelled before," I told her.

"Good different?" Jasper asked as he walked into the room. I looked up.

"Really good different," I said as Jasper sat down next to Alice on the arm of her chair. "It took all the strength that I had not to kill him right there, in front of all those people. So I had to get away. I was so certain that I wouldn't be able to handle it again, so I just split."

"But you decided to come back." I looked up to see Emmett standing in the doorway. "I heard you talking," he added.

"Tanya convinced me that I could do it," I said. "It took me two weeks to get up my courage, but I finally did and decided to come back." We were quiet for a moment.

"I've never heard of anything like that," Alice finally announced.

"I have," Jasper whispered. I stared at him.

"What?" Alice hissed. Jasper nodded.

"It was a long, long time ago. Before I met you, Alice. After I had just left Maria," he confessed.

"What happened?" I whispered, my eyes wide.

"I… killed her." He shook his head. I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples.

"What am I going to do?" I muttered.

"Bella, it was different for me," Jasper said. "I didn't have any self control, like you do. You've been doing this for what, 50 years?"

"57," I choked out.

"Exactly," Jasper continued. "So therefore you have a way better chance of controlling yourself."

"That makes sense," Emmett agreed. I glared at him.

"You don't have to try to make me feel better," I growled. Emmett laughed.

"Well, you're so depressed all the time, somebody has to," he claimed. I scowled.

"Maybe you just need to be around him more," Alice suggested.

"And that will help me _how_?" I asked scaldingly.

"You can… de-sensitize yourself. Like Carlisle did, except with Edward," Alice explained.

"It would be really hard…" I trailed off.

"I could help!" Emmett offered.

"No," I said.

"Fine," he pouted.

"I'll try it," I decided. Alice perked up.

"No more running off?" She asked.

"No more running off," I confirmed.

"Good," she said. "Because for a minute there I saw you leaving again. Don't want to lose my shopping partner again!" I opened my mouth to argue that, but was interrupted by her. "Come on, Jas. Let's go!" She exclaimed quickly, then disappeared upstairs. I looked at Emmett.

"I'm gonna go, too," he said. "Rose is still upstairs."

"Go ahead," I replied. "I guess I'll just go hunting or something." Emmett was gone in a second.

I stood up and walked outside. The night was clear, something extremely rare in Forks. I could see every constellation that I had known ever since I was a little girl, over 70 years ago. The cold night breeze blew across my face, tugging some of my hair out of my ponytail.

_Maybe I'll go see Edward… _I thought, watching a wispy cloud drift across the moon. _Go and start to de-sensitize myself…_

I took a deep breath and started to run through the woods.

**A/N: Hope everybody liked it! I got a little bit (okay, that's a lie. I got a LOT) of writers block at the beginning. But it's mostly over now, so I think that the next chapter will go pretty smoothly. Thanks to everybody who reviewed!**


	7. As He Slept

**A/N: Hmm… all the snow seems to have melted. Perhaps we'll get more tonight. As for now, on with chapter 7! **

Chapter 7 – As He Slept

Bella's POV

His house wasn't that hard to find. All that I had to do was run to school and pick up his scent, then follow it until I hit the jackpot – the Mason family home.

Edward's car, a bashed up little silver Toyota was parked outside in the driveway next to a dusty green 1996 Chevrolet Tahoe. I walked over to Edward's car and inhaled deeply. The scent was enough to send me reeling – and I wasn't even inside the car. I stood next to the car and worked to keep my breathing even until the venom in my mouth dissipated. Once I felt comfortable standing there, I started to walk towards the house. The closer I got, the stronger his scent became.

There was a light on inside an upstairs window and another farther back on the first floor, probably from the kitchen. I looked at my watch and saw that it was already 10:00 at night.

I turned away from the house and back to Edward's car. The smell that was rolling off of it was intoxicating, even from being a foot away. I stepped closer and inhaled deeply, then glared at the lock until it popped up. Very, very slowly I opened the door. Edward's scent came rushing out and once again venom filled my mouth. I painstakingly steadied my breathing, and then slipped into the driver's seat. The smell was simply unbelievable. I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply, unable to resist any longer. My nose trailed along the steering wheel, feeling the cold leather on my face and Edward's scent fill my nose. Before I knew it I was… licking the steering wheel? I stopped abruptly and looked around to see if anybody had seen. There was nobody in the driveway. I wiped the steering wheel with my sleeve and sat back nonchalantly. Nobody would ever know. Then it came to me – Alice. I whipped out my cell phone and hit the speed dial button. She answered before it even rang. All that I could here was giggling. And a dull roar in the background that was most likely Emmett.

"Alice!" I whined. "Why did you tell him?"

"He… wasn't… the only… one I … told," Alice gasped through the giggles. I hit my head on the steering wheel, then glared at it.

"You are the cause of all my problems…" I muttered at it under my breath.

"No," Emmett yelled, "You're the cause of all your problems! You lick steering wheels!" I rolled my eyes.

"I will never talk to you again," I hissed into the phone, then snapped it shut and threw it into the pocket of my jacket. The silence enveloped me once again as I rubbed my temples. When I opened my eyes again the light in Edward's bedroom was turned off as well as the light in the kitchen.

"Time to roll," I muttered to myself. The door quietly squeaked open and I stepped out lightly. Clouds had rolled in while I was in the car, covering the sky and turning it to a dark, reddish grey. I silently ran to the front porch, then climbed the supports to the roof. A quick peek in the window confirmed that Edward was soundly asleep. I watched him, almost in a trance, as he slept. Without even thinking I used my power to slide open the window latches and silently stepped inside into his room. I leaned against the wall, then slid down until I was sitting on the ground. All I could do was focus on breathing and stare at Edward. His chest rose and fell as he breathed and a chunk of bronze hair fluttered in front of his mouth.

I took a deep breath and wrapped my arms around my legs. Edward's scent rolled around me in waves as he breathed in and out. Suddenly he stiffened, then rolled over and sighed. More of his scent rolled off of him, hitting me like a frying pan. Not, of course, that any frying pan could actually hurt me. But the idea still remains.

Three hours later I was still frozen against the wall. I looked at my watch and was shocked – it was already 1:00 in the morning.

_What am I doing here?_ I couldn't help but think. _Do you ever think that anything could really come of this? _

_No, _I answered my own question. _Nothing ever could. _It felt like there was something heavy in my chest, weighing down my heart. I stood up and put my hands on the windowsill, getting ready to leave when I heard it.

"Bella…" Edward mumbled. I turned around and immediately fell into a defensive crouch, holding my breath. It took me a moment to realize that Edward was actually not awake. He had been sleep talking. And saying… my name? I stood up straight again and leaned against the wall.

"What are you thinking about, Edward?" I muttered under my breath. Still, I couldn't help but feel my heart swell with… something… when I watched his face. Add on top of that when he said my name with his perfect, silky voice…

I let out one last sigh and started to step out the window.

"Good night, Edward," I whispered and jumped to the ground.

As I was running home I couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe, something could come of it.

**A/N: Wow, that really took me a long time to write… It was pretty hard to, though. Got a wee bit of writers block near the middle. Hope everybody liked it!**

**Review if you love me!**


	8. What's There to Hide?

**A/N: Okay, thank u, thank u, thank u to everybody that stuck with me while I wasn't writing anything! I've tried to re-write this chapter so many times, and this is like the fourth authors note that I've written! Anyways, this is defiantly for mradrz4evr. Now that I've written it you won't have to kill me! Yay! Anyways, I have tons of excuses like that I went to Whistler last week or that volleyball just started or that I've had tons of homework, but I'm sure you all don't want to hear about them. So, on that note, on with the story!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of this. Otherwise I would be up at Whistler a WHOLE lot more than I actually do because I would be richer than crap!**

Chapter 8 – What's There to Hide?

Bella's POV

The day after the infamous Steering Wheel Incident was uneventful – until biology. Emmett constantly teased me, of course, and Rose seemed to be smirking at me the entire day. Alice just giggled every time she looked at Edward. Even Jasper seemed affected – he seemed to be repressing laughter, too. I ignored them as best I could and silently counted down the minutes until biology with Edward.

_Is this for real?_ I wondered as I sat at our usual lunch table._ I'm practically counting the seconds until I can see him again. I've never been like this before._

_And yet you still maintain that you aren't falling in love with him, _my evil side injected..

_It's because I'm not, _my good side countered.

_Are too._

_Are not._

_Are too._

_Okay stop! _The good side finally exploded. _This is pointless! I'm not falling for him and that is that!_

"Bella."

_What? _I answered.

"Bella?"

_What?!_

"Bella!" Alice hissed loudly, kicking my shin as hard as she possible could. It probably would have broken any humans leg, but it just made me wince.

"Yeah?" I finally replied, working my foot in a circle to ease the pain.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," I shrugged. "I'm fine." Alice raised her eyebrows.

"You were staring at the table and muttering to yourself… again," she explained.

"Oh," I said. "Whoops." If there was one thing that I didn't want my family to know about, it would be my multiple personality arguments that I had with myself. Besides the steering wheel licking thing, that is.

"We should probably go," I told Alice, glancing at my watch.

"That would be good, seeing as everybody else is already gone," she smirked. I looked around and saw that it was true. We were the only ones left in the cafeteria besides the ancient-looking janitor.

"Sorry," I smiled apologetically.

"It's fine," Alice laughed, standing up and linking arms with me. "However, if you still felt really bad you could make up for it by going shopping with me tomorrow…"

"Alice…" I moaned as I was dragged out of the lunch room.

10 minutes later I arrived in biology after being forcefully drafted into a weekend shopping trip with Alice. Although seeing her so ecstatic made me happy, I still dreaded the trip. When I sat down it was almost as if Edward could tell.

"Any weekend plans?" he asked cheerfully as we worked on a homework sheet together.

"Unfortunatly, yes. Alice is taking me shopping," I sighed.

"That sounds like fun," Edward said.

"Obviously you've never been shopping with Alice," I snorted.

"True," Edward shrugged as I laughed quietly.

Edward POV

"Obviously you've never been shopping with Alice," Bella snorted, still writing as she spoke in her perfect calligraphy-like penmanship.

"True," I shrugged, watching her. She laughed quietly and I was struck dumb. Hearing Bella laugh was the most beautiful sound in the world.

_She is so amazing,_ I thought. Her dark brown, almost black hair fell across her should and spilled onto the tabletop as she leaned across the desk and her gold eyes glittered like Tiffany diamonds. As I studied her I noticed that something was different about her eyes, though. They looked almost… lighter colored than when I had first seen her. Before I could get a really good look she turned to look at her paper again.

"What about you?" she asked.

"Huh?" I blurted out, still a little stunned by her pure beauty.

"Are you doing anything this weekend?" she clarified.

"Oh, uh, yeah. Mike and Tyler and I and a few other guys are going into Port Angeles to see a basketball game, actually," I said.

"Fun," Bella smirked. She probably knew exactly what I was in for, with having two brothers and such.

"I don't really like basketball myself," she continued.

"What do you like?" I asked curiously. "I mean, you don't like shopping basketball or shopping, so what do you like to do?" Bella looked up at me and twirled her pencil in her pale fingers.

"I like a lot of stuff, Edward. I like… camping. And I love to read, I play the guitar, I run," she said, ticking the things off with her fingers.

"That's all?" I asked. She shrugged nonchalantly.

"I guess." It seemed like there had been something that she was hiding, though.

_That's a little extreme, _I thought. Maybe there was just something that she didn't feel like sharing. I was about to gather up the courage to ask her about it when the bell rang. She gathered up her things and stood up.

"I'll see you on Monday then, Edward," she chirped as she walked away.

"Yeah," I replied, watching her leave. The way she moved just intoxicated me.

_Damn, man. You've whipped, _ said an evil little voice in my head.

_Shut up,_ I replied silently.

**Yay yay yay! It's finally done and now I can start on chapter 9! I already have it planned out where it's going to go, so it should go pretty quickly. I'm so excited to start really getting more into the plot, I just can't wait!**


	9. Port Angeles

**A/N: Wow, thanks to everybody that's been sticking with me for all the time that I haven't updated! This is a long chapter, so I hope that everybody enjoys it. It's at least 3 times longer than all the others!**

**Just so that you know how hard this was for me to finish this, I'm going to go on a rant about the conditions I wrote this in. I wrote it right after I went snowboarding all day - and I was riding hard, too - and it took me sooooo long to finish. I wasn't done with it until, like, midnight, (haha, that fits with the title) and I was so tired I was doing the head-bob thing. So... yeah. I hope that you enjoyed it becuase I went though a lot to bring this to you.**

Chapter 9 – Port Angeles

Edward's POV

To be honest, I really didn't actually want to go to Port Angeles with Mike and the rest of them. But I had already turned down several offers to go places with them, so I thought that I should accept this one. They couldn't help that they were so incredibly boring or that there was absolutely nothing to do in this dinky town. It also didn't help that I pretty much could tell exactly what they were thinking about me just by glancing at them.

When I told my mom about the trip, she was ecstatic.

"Oh! I'm so glad that you've finally made some friends, Eddie," she gushed, using her pet name for me. "I know that it was hard for you to leave New York, but you really have seemed… closed up lately. Maybe some new friends will help you open up more."

That being the case, I tried to put on a brave face when Mike showed up at my front door on Saturday with a minivan full of teenagers park3ed in the driveway. I ended up wedged between Tyler and some other boy I didn't recognize in the back seat of the filthy minivan.

"Let the fun begin!" Tyler crowed as we pulled out of the driveway.

_Oh my God,_ I thought. Glimpsing myself in the rearview mirror only just confirmed that I looked exactly as I felt – wide eyed and terrified.

Bella's POV

At six o' clock on Saturday morning I was just returning from hunting when Alice found me. I had just stepped out of the forest and onto our property when a tiny black and white blur tackled me. She knocked me into the bushes and then quickly jumped back up as I blinked, a little bit dazed.

"Bella," she whined, crossing her arms and tapping her tiny foot impatiently, "you can't just lay around in the bushes all day. We have to leave in the next… 15 minutes if we want to beat the traffic," she said as she glanced at her watch.

"Traffic?" I snorted, rearranging my legs so I was sitting cross-legged in the ferns instead of randomly sprawled across them. "Alice, we're leaving _Forks _and driving to _Port Angeles_. How much traffic could there possibly be?" Alice sighed dramatically.

"Actually," she corrected me, "There's going to be a 3 car pile-up just outside of Port Angeles and I don't want to get stuck behind it." I stared at her in shock.

"What? Nobodies going to die," she shrugged. I rolled my eyes and stood up, brushing dirt off of my jeans.

"Now go change," Alice commanded.

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" I asked, offended.

"Are you serious?" She gasped.

"We're just going to Port Angeles," I muttered. "Not Paris."

"I don't expect you to understand these things," my sister lectured me, "but I do expect you to trust me on matters like this."

"Fine, whatever," I pouted.

"Now go change! I put some clothes in your room for you; they're on your couch!" She chirped. I skulked off in the direction of the house to start the day's torture.

10 minutes later I was in my car with an ecstatic Alice. I had forced her to let me drive and then taken my car. Alice was fine with it because it had more trunk room than her Porsche – a bright yellow thing that she had convinced Jasper to buy her for their anniversary.

I was wearing most of what Alice had picked out for me – the only thing I had ditched was the death trap high heel stilettos. Instead I had replaced them with flats, a habit that I still retained from my human life when I was so clumsy I couldn't walk across a flat surface without finding something to trip over. Being a vampire, however, I didn't have to worry about that.

As soon as we were on the highway I floored the gas, putting the needle of the speedometer at least over 100 miles per hour. Alice up on a CD and turned the music up until I could feel the bass pounding throughout the frame of my car. That was another excellent thing about my car – it had a great stereo system. Alice sang along with the CD, hitting ever note perfectly with her beautiful voice. I smiled to myself as I watched the road blankly. Alice was so full of life, it almost made me happy that I had agreed to go shopping with her. Almost, but not quite. I rather detested shopping, to be honest.

Just less than an hour later we arrived in Port Angeles. Pedestrians stared in awe at my car as we passed by them. It did draw a lot of attention, being a luxury sports car with super dark tinted windows. The thrumming bass that was still rocking the frame of it didn't help, either. Smirking slightly I parallel parked perfectly by a curb and shut off the engine. The music died instantly, which drew even more curious stares. I reached into the back seat to grab my purse and turned to Alice, trying not to grin too obviously.

"Ready?" I asked.

"As always," she replied.

"Let's roll," I muttered as I stepped out of my car. Just as I had suspected, a loose, inconspicuous crowd had gathered around my car. The look of shock at seeing two literally perfect girls step out of such an expensive car that had, seconds ago, shook the street with music made me grin, but just enough for Alice to see. She fed the meter as I came around to join her on the sidewalk.

"That look is priceless," I whispered as we started to walk, so low that only she could here me.

"I don't see how you get so much pleasure from that every time," she muttered disapprovingly, shaking her head slightly.

The first shop that we stopped in was a tiny, very expensive boutique that had just arrived in Port Angeles. Alice absolutely fell in love with it and swooped I, practically taking over the shop. The counter-girl looked quite alarmed – until she saw what Alice was picking out to go together.

"Oh my God, that is an absolutely fabulous outfit!" she squealed, scurrying around the counter to study what Alice was admiring. "I never would have ever even _thought _to put that together, but it's fantastic!" se continued, not even seeming to be in the least bit intimidated by us. I wasn't at all how humans normally reacted to us.

"Isn't it, though?" Alice agreed, stroking the fabric of the dress she was holding. "Bella, you simply must try it on."

"Why me?" I asked, taken aback.

"It's your size," Alice said with a snort.

"Oh," I replied.

"Yes, you really must," the counter-girl insisted, taking Alice's side.

"Fine," I sighed, taking the dress and shoes that Alice handed me in my arms and heading into the dressing room. When I emerged the counter-girl gasped and stared, wide eyed, but Alice took it all in stride.

"It's lovely," she said as she adjusted it slightly and studied me. "Fits you perfectly, too."

_Duh, _I thought. _I've been the same size for the past 50 years._

"Look at the shoes," the counter-girl said, finally recovering from her stupor. "Look at how they bring out the white in the dress. Wow. You simply must buy it." I took the temporary lull in their scrutiny to look at the price tag.

"Alice!" I gasped when I read it. "Look at the price! This is ridiculous!"

"Bella…" Alice protested as I stomped off towards the dressing room to take off the ridiculously expensive dress. As I did, however, I passed by a mirror. For a moment I froze, shocked. I knew the person in the mirror, but at the same time I didn't. Slowly, I turned to face the mirror. The vintage dress, probably from the 50's, brought back memories that weren't quite accessible to me – memories of my human life. The chiffon of a party dress swishing around my legs, the smell of sulfur from fireworks, the cold steel of leaning up against a turquoise pick-up truck, a kiss… as soon as I remembered them, they were gone. I shot a look at Alice, my sister. She knew exactly what I was thinking.

"Fine," I said without even thinking, "I'll take it."

"Yay!" Alice squealed, jumping up and down and clapping her hands.

By the time I emerged from the dressing room, dress in hand, Alice had an armful of clothes for herself to try on. She was positively glowing from the excitement of shopping.

An hour later we left the shop, Alice with two full bags and me with my lone dress and shoes in a single bag. For the rest of the day she dragged me from shop to shop until the sun started to set.

"Alice," I whined as we walked down the street, "I want to go into the Antique Shop." **(A/N: Hehe, there's a little bit of me in that. Anybody that knows me probably knows that I'm completely addicted to Antique shops.)**

"Why?" she moaned. If there was one thing that Alice absolutely couldn't stand, it was antique shops. For some reason they just attracted me, like it was my human life calling me back.

"Come on," I insisted, pulling on her hand. "Just this one, I promise." The open doors of the shop practically called to me.

"Fine," Alice relented, following me. I elatedly skipped inside.

The shop was one of those high-end deals; lots of lace and jewelry, some furniture and canes and old Coca-Cola bottles. I walked down the isles, stroking random objects as I passed. Suddenly, I stopped dead. A typewriter sat on a shelf, right in front of me. I absentmindedly reached out to stroke the keys, and that was when it came –

_I was sitting on a man's lap, presumably my father's. At the time I was probably 5 years old, maybe younger. My father was at his desk in his office. In front of me, right at eye level, was a typewriter. I reached out to tap on the keys gently and jerked my hand back when It clacked noisily. The light reflected off of the silver arm and I squinted._

"_How does it work, daddy?" I asked curiously…_

"Miss, miss!" I man suddenly called, cutting the memory short. "Miss, please don't touch that! It's very old, you see, and-"

"How much?" I interrupted.

"Excuse me?" The man replied.

"How… much… for… the… typewriter?" I asked, enunciating every word very clearly. The man looked offended.

"Well, the price is very reasonable, of course, for a model this old and in perfect working condition. Every piece there, no rust, fresh ribbon-"

"How much?" I snapped for a third time.

"F-five hundred dollars," he stammered, my vicious glare startling him.

"I'll take it," I said, picking it up off the shelf and walking towards the counter.

"Miss, miss…" the man twittered, trailing behind me. I ignored him as he sidled behind the counter and I set the typewriter down on the counter. Instantly Alice was by my side.

"Are we leaving?" She asked excitedly.

"Yeah. Just a minute, okay?" I said as I pulled my gold credit card out from my wallet. The expression on the man's face instantly changed as I handed it to him. He swiped it reverently, as if he might break it, and handed it back to me. I stuffed it in my wallet un-ceremoniously and he visibly winced.

"Thank you very much for your purchase, Miss Cullen," he said in a completely different voice then when he had told me not to touch the typewriter. He wrapped the box the typewriter was in with brown paper and carefully handed it to me.

"Please come again soon, Miss Cullen," he smiled. I nodded curtly and stepped out of the store.

"Ugh, thank God. It reeks in those stores," Alice said as we walked down the street. Streetlights lit our path in pools of yellow light. "And that guy? What a jack ass!" she continued. "I don't even know why you like those stores. Well, I do, but you know what I-" abruptly she stopped talking and walking. A blank look came over her face and her mouth hung slightly open. I knew the look instantly – she was having a vision. All I could do was wait it out. It didn't take long, less than 20 seconds later she "woke-up" from her vision, as I sometimes put it. But this time it seemed a little bit different and she had a very frightened look in her eyes.

"What is it?" I asked automatically.

"Edward," she said, her eyes wide. She turned to look me in the eyes. "Bella, it's Edward. He's… he's in danger. You have to go find him. Right now."

"Where is he?" I asked.

"He's… at the corner of Holly Street and Creek Boulevard, I think. Hurry, Bella!" she replied frantically.

"How will you get home?" I asked.

"It doesn't matter! I'll run or have Jasper pick me up. Just GO!" she yelled. I nodded, wide eyed, and then started sprinting to get to my car.

Edward's POV

After the basketball game, which had been just as boring as I had anticipated, the guys decided to go get something to eat at some local restaurant. I had heard that there was a great local music shop, however, and decided to check it out.

"I'll catch up with you guys later," I had said to mike after I explained where I was going. I got the name of the restaurant they were going to and then went to find the music store. I had at least a few hours before I had to meet up with them again, so once I found it I decided that I would look through their sheet music selection. It was nothing like my favorite shop from New York, though. The selection was tiny, but they did have a rather nice upright piano which I played for a while. By the time I left the shop it was dark so I started to head back to the restaurant to catch a ride back with Mike and the others. The streets were pretty much deserted where I was, the corner of Holly Street and Creek Boulevard. I shoved my hands deep inside my coat pockets to ward off the creeping cold and started to cross the street. Right when I was in the middle of the crosswalk, I froze. My feet were stuck to the pavement with shock and all I could do was stare at the oncoming car that carved around the corner and straight towards me.

_Holy shit,_ I thought, _I'm going to die. _Then it hit me. I flew towards the sidewalk and hit the concrete. My breath was knocked out of me in one giant _whoof_, but I wasn't as hurt as I should have been. I could tell that right away. And whatever had hit me had come from the wrong direction, too, I realized. The car should have flung me into the street, not onto the sidewalk. That was when I saw her – Bella Cullen. She was standing in front of the red car that had almost just hit me. The car was stopped and her hands were on the hood as she stared intently at the driver.

"Get in my car, Edward," she hissed at me, eyes still glued to the terrified driver. I scrambled to my feet.

"Where is it?" I asked, my voice wavering.

"It's parked by the laundromat," she stated calmly. I scurried over to it and sat down in the passenger seat, watching the confrontation that was going on. The drivers side window in Bella's car was open, so I hoped I'd be able to hear.

_Holy shit,_ I though again. _I almost just died. And Bella saved me. Bella saved- _Then my eyes just about popped out of my head.

I guess that somewhere in my head I had already figured out that Bella wasn't quite normal. But when she literally ripped the door off the drivers side of the car that had almost killed my and pulled the driver out by the front of his shirt, I couldn't have been more surprised.

Bella's POV

I made it just in time. Had I arrived seconds later, Edward would have been dead. That was the only thought that occupied my mind as I stared down the twenty-something male driver that was inside the car. I barely had enough control to send Edward to my car. And yeah, I knew that he was watching me and yeah, I knew that I would never be able to pretend that nothing had ever happened, but I still couldn't refrain myself and ripped the door off the drivers side of the car and drug the driver out by the front of his shirt to pin him against the passenger door. I could have smelled the alcohol on his breath from a mile away, which only served to make me angrier. **(A/N: I guess this is a good time to remind everybody that you should never, ever, ever drive drunk! You never know who you might hit… like Edward!)**

"What the _hell_ were you doing?" I growled, pushing him against the car harder.

"I… I…" he stammered, his speech slurred.

"You filthy bastard!" I shouted. "You selfish, pig-headed ass hole! Drunk driving is illegal for a reason!" I slammed him up against his own car again and then reached into it to pull his keys from the ignition faster than he could see.

"You don't deserve these," I growled as I twisted the key quickly. Then I shoved them in his hand and shot him one more death glare.

"Don't ever, ever drive drunk again," I growled. As I walked away towards my car, I heard his breathing resume. Then he gasped sharply.

"She tied my key in a knot!" I heard him exclaim. I didn't even smile at that.

I walked towards my car at a normal, human pace and opened the door gently to slip inside. I didn't even look at Edward.

"I'm very sorry that you had to see that, Edward," I apologized.

"Thank you," he said. I looked up. "Thank you for saving me. Thank you so much." I smiled gently.

"Of course. You're very welcome," I replied.

**A/N: Okay, hope that everybody enjoyed that! If anybody wants to see the dress that Bella bought, I have a link to what I think it should look like right here: http/ . Anyways, It's from the 1950's and I pictured Bella wearing it at a 4th of July picnic when she was a human. Which brings me to the second thing - Bella's human memories. I'll be talking more about that in the near future... when Bella tells Edward her story! Yay! Something for you all to look forwards too!**

**I just want to send a shout-out to Mradrz4evr for updating so much... you totally inspire me! yay! Hope that you enjoy this chapter... since u've been bugging me so much to post... Thanks, everybody! Review to tell me what you think!**


	10. Dinner and a Talk

Chapter 10 – Dinner and a Talk

Chapter 10 – Dinner and a Talk

Bella's POV

_Previously in Midnight Choices…_

"_Thank you," he said. I looked up. "Thank you for saving me. So much." I smiled._

"_Of course. You're very welcome," I replied. _

It was nearly impossible for me to sit that close to Edward and keep my sanity. He just smelled so absurdly _good_, and in my tiny car…. Well, the smell was only amplified. I sat, completely silent, trying to get a grasp on my control. True, it had been over 45 years since the last time I had tasted human blood. And Edward wasn't scratched or bleeding at all. But his heart was beating so fast, pumping his delicious – no, delicious wasn't a strong enough word. Irresistibly, impossibly desirable blood would be a better description – through his veins. Did he have any idea how much danger he was in right now? Of course he didn't. He couldn't possibly. I wouldn't lay a finger on Edward. My resolve flickered slightly, however, as he ran a shaking hand through his magnificent, bronze-tinted hair. The simple action, however innocent, released a flood of his scent that hit me face on. I gasped slightly, inhaling a lung-full of it. Slowly, trying to regain my control, I breathed out through my nose. For a minute all I could do was focus on breathing right. In, out, in out. I couldn't just stop breathing – Edward was too close, he would defiantly be able to tell. Finally I started to calm down a bit and get a grip on my control… until the first notes of the Beatles' _Help! _blared in the car. I gasped again, inhaling _another _lungful of Edward-scented air. _Will this never cease?_ I thought angrily. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Edward sheepishly pull his cell phone out of his coat pocket.

"Hello?" he answered. I could hear every word on the other end crystal clear, but pretended not to listen.

"Edward, man, where are you?" Mike said, on the other side of the line.

"Um, I'm not quite sure where I am, to be honest," Edward replied.

"Corner of Holly Street and Creek Boulevard," I reminded him quietly. He repeated the information to Mike as I started my car and pulled into the street, avoiding the red car that I had effectively disabled. I already knew the restaurant that Mike was at, I had passed by it on my mad rush to find Edward.

"Oh. Well, we're at the restaurant right now. It'll probably take you a good 20 minutes to get here from there if you're walking… and we kind of just finished eating…" Mike trailed off.

"Oh!" Edward exclaimed. "Well, I can meet you guys at the restaurant, I don't need to eat or anything."

"I'll drive you home, Edward. You need to eat," I said before I even knew what I was saying. _WHAT?? _ My brain screamed. Why in the world did I just do that? Did I really have that much self control?

"I wouldn't want to make you do that," Edward said quietly. _This is your chance out,_ my brains said.

"No, I want to." What in the _hell_ of it was I doing? Was I _trying _to make it harder for myself?

"Well, if you insist," Edward said reluctantly. "I can get a ride back, actually," he told Mike. "You guys can leave without me."

"Really?" Mike asked curiously. "With who?" By that time we had pulled into the parking lot, directly across from Mike's mother's minivan. He was leaned against the drivers side door, talking on his phone. In one smooth motion I opened my car door and stepped out, holding the top of the door.

"With me," I said, smirking slightly. I could hear Edward slowly snap his phone shut and see Mike's jaw drop. "That's okay, right?"

"Yeah… yeah, that's fine…" Mike stammered. Edward opened the passenger side door, too, and stood up.

"I'll see you at school then, okay?" he called to Mike.

"Yeah… I'll see you at school…" Mike mumbled. I tried to hold back a smirk. Mike had been… rather romantically interested in me ever since I had come to Forks High School. It had taken a number of attempts on my part to dissuade him from his fantasies, which you could tell was still a sore spot for him. To see Edward, the new kid, getting a ride with me (something that had most definitely never happened to Mike, no matter how much he had hinted that was what he wanted) probably hurt Mike more than he would ever let on. But still… Mike needed to finally get over me. As he fumbled with the handle on his van door and slammed it shut once he was inside, I hoped that this would be it from him. A few seconds later he was gone, his van-load of teenage friends comforting him as he stared blankly ahead.

"Come on, Edward," I said as I closed my car door as gently as I could so that I wouldn't dent the metal. I had already done that once this week – Rosalie swore that she wouldn't fix it again if I happened to lose my temper. Edward swung the door closed too, trying to match the care that I took. I locked the doors and then started walking towards the front doors of the restaurant. The parking lot was practically deserted, so I cut through the parking lot. Edward followed me, jogging slightly to keep up. I slowed down forgivingly, also something that I had never done for anybody before. What was happening to me? When we reached to door Edward held it open for me. My eyebrows raised in surprise. Who said chivalry was dead? And he had done it so naturally, too… his mother must have taught him good manners.

"May I please lead you to a seat, ma'am?" the young waiter manning the counter said as soon as Edward and I were through the door. He completely ignored Edward, instead focusing only on me.

"Yes, thank you," I replied, nodding.

"Party of two, then?" he asked, taking two menus off a stack on the counter. I nodded again.

"Yes."

The waiter led us to a table in the middle of the practically restaurant that could have seated at least 8 people. Just for Edward and me. I was not impressed.

"Somewhere a little more… private, if you don't mind," I told him. Both Edward and the waiter looked surprised.

"Um, sure. Is this all right?" he asked, leading us to a booth by a window.

"Yes, that's good. Thank you," I said.

"Would you like anything to begin with?" the waiter asked as he set the menus on the table.

"Edward?" I prompted.

"I'll have a coke," he said.

"Make that two," I added. I wouldn't be drinking it, of course, but I had a feeling that Edward might.

"Your server will be out in a few minutes," he told us, then turned to go back to the kitchen. Edward stared after him, looking… smug? Maybe… I couldn't quite tell what it was. I frowned slightly, then opened up the menu in front of him, laying it out on the table so that he could see read it. He raised his eyebrows slightly, leaning up against the table with his elbows. I leaned back in my seat, folding my hands in my lap.

"So…" Edward said.

"So," I repeated, nodding, looking into his face. His eyes were just so green…

"Can I ask you a question?" Edward asked. I frowned again.

"That depends on what the question is."

"Well, that's not fair, then." We were silent for a minute until the waiter arrived.

"I'll be your waiter tonight," he said to me, completely ignoring Edward and setting the glasses of Coke on the table. "Have you decided what you'd like tonight?" I looked at Edward pointedly.

"Um…" he glanced down at the menu, "I'll have the mushroom tortellini."

"And for you?" The waiter asked, giving me his undivided attention.

"Nothing, thanks," I said unsmilingly.

"Are you sure?" he pressed.

"Very sure," I replied, handing him the menus.

"All right, then. If you change your mind I'll be happy to take your order." I nodded solemnly as the waiter returned to the kitchen. Edward rolled his eyes as soon as the waiter was gone.

"What?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"Did you not see that?"

"No. What was I supposed to see?"

"Never mind. It really doesn't matter."

"Okay," I shrugged. I could take it up later if I really wanted to. We were quite for a minute.

"So…" Edward started, "What brings you to Port Angeles."

"I was shopping… with Alice, remember?" I reminded him.

"Oh, yes," he nodded. "And how was that?" To be honest, I was rather shocked. Edward had just almost been _hit_ by a _car_ and he was asking me if I had fun shopping with my sister? He should be going into shock right now! I knew I practically was. Instead he was… calmly sipping his soda as he waited for me to answer.

"Edward, are you okay?" I asked, voicing my concerns. "Are you feeling cold or out of breath or anything?" He looked at me, his eyebrows knitting together.

"I'm fine, Bella. Why?"

I sighed, shaking my head. "You are absolutely ridiculous. You almost died, and you're asking my how my shopping trip with my sister is. What you should be doing is going into shock."

Edward shrugged. He SHRUGGED! I pursed my lips and pinched the bridge of my nose, breathing deeply to calm myself.

"Umm… I'm sorry, then," he apologized, making it sound more like a question than a statement.

"Don't be," I growled. It wasn't _his _fault that the stupid drunk driver had almost hit him. It wasn't _his _fault that he wasn't reacting the way that most human beings would be. It wasn't _his _fault that I pulled dumb-ass moves like offering to drive him home without even knowing if I would be able to handle it.

"Why not?" he asked. I looked up.

"It's not your fault…" I trailed off, voicing my thoughts. It was more of a whisper, really.

"It's not your fault, either."

"Yes. Yes, it is. I should have been paying better attention… I should have…"

"You're not Superman, Bella. You're just human, you're only-" then he cut himself off. After a second he laughed. "Okay, maybe not. But still, you can't blame yourself for what happened. Even if you aren't… normal."

"You noticed that?"

"You stopped a car with your bare hands. And ripped the door off the car. And tied that guy's key in a knot."

I nodded slowly. "So, you know that I'm… different…"

"Yes. But…"

"But what?"

"I am curious."

"About what?"

He was quite for a second, looking as if he was trying to word his question right. "Is there anything else… different… about you?"

I nodded slowly. "Yes. There is."

"Will you tell me?"

"Later, Edward. When there are less people around."

He looked solemn. "But you will tell me?" I was quite as I considered how to answer him. The waiter took that moment to appear.

"One mushroom tortellini," he said cheerily, completely unaware of the somber, tense mood. Then, turning to me, "Are you completely sure that you don't want anything?"

I nodded. "Yes, I am." This time I did notice that he seemed to be paying _way _more attention to me than to Edward. Ha. If only he knew how easily I could have killed him, he wouldn't be staring at my chest so audaciously. I stared at him pointedly until he awkwardly turned around and went back to the kitchen.

"You really shouldn't do that," Edward said, spearing a tortellini with his fork.

"Do what?" I asked, once again confused.

"Scare people like that." I was actually surprised at that.

"I scare people?"

"On a regular basis, really."

"Do I scare you?"

"Not particularly."

I raised my eyebrows.

"Is that so, then?"

Edward nodded, thoughtfully chewing on a tortellini. I drummed my fingers on the table top, waiting for him to swallow.

"Should you scare me?" he asked morosely once he had swallowed.

"Probably," I admitted sadly.

"Is it bad that you don't?"

"Probably." We were completely silent until Edward had finished eating. Quickly he drained the first coke, so I pushed mine towards him.

"No, I can't take yours," he said, shaking his head. I rolled my eyes.

"I don't want it. Please, just take it."

"Okay…" he shrugged and then drained it as well. As if he had been watching, the waiter arrived.

"Would anybody like dessert tonight?" he asked me, not even glancing at Edward.

"No. I would like the bill, however," I replied curtly.

"Oh. Okay, then," he said, pulling out the bill. I folded a 50 bill into his hand before he even knew what had happened.

"Keep the change," I muttered. It was all he could do to walk, wide-eyed, back to the kitchen. Edward laughed as he stood up. I rolled my eyes and stood up too.

"Come on, Edward. Let's go."

**A/N: Okay, you guys. I'm really, really, really sorry that this took soooo long to update. I know it was kind of filler, more will come soon! Reviews are welcome and looked forward to. I've found quite a few really good fanfics recently and I wrote a one-shot so… go check that out, if you have the time. **


	11. 20 Questions

**A/N from before...**

So… this isn't a real chapter, but I just wanted to say to everybody that's been reading my story that I haven't dropped it and I'm sorry that I haven't updated since… what, it must have been April or something. I've just been kind of lacking in inspiration and so I'm working on that.

On a different note, I started another fanfic. I haven't posted it yet, but I think that I will soon. In it then Edward tries to kill Bella when he first sees her, but Alice has a vision about it and the rest of the Cullens show up in time to keep Edward from killing her. However… she does turn into a vampire. I've really been enjoying writing it so far, and at least I think that it's WAY better than this one.

Thanks for reading my ramblings… I know that I kind of do that too much. If anybody has any ideas of what I should put in this story, I'd love love love (!!) to hear them. You can review this to tell me what you think. Thanks!!

-Taylor

**Okay, on with the story! Sorry, this isn't a new chapter. I just had to rearrange things a bit!**

**Chapter 12 – 20 Guesses**

**Bella's POV**

We had only been in the car for five minutes when he brought it up again. I had been expecting it, of course, but not looking forwards to it.

"So… will you tell me now?" he asked, not looking at me. I decided to play stupid, even though it obviously wouldn't work with him.

"Tell you what?"

"You _know_ what."

I was completely silent, contemplating my options. Edward quickly became frustrated.

"You promised that you would tell me," he accused. I could barely stand listening to it because I knew that it was true.

"I never promised," I murmured quietly, just loud enough for him to hear. He sighed, whether in frustration or defeat I didn't know.

"I should have known you would say something like that." I didn't say anything, but his quiet mutterings cut to my soul. After a minute, he said, "So, you won't tell me anything, then?"

"No," I shook my head. "I mean, I might. I just… I don't want to scare you."

"You don't scare me. I already told you that," he protested.

"But I could." It was true and he knew it. We were silent for a few minutes as I drove.

"What if I guessed?" Edward suddenly said. I was dubious about it.

"I really don't think that you could guess… or at least I don't think that you could guess and be right," I admitted.

"I could try…" True. He always could try, and if he did get it right… well, I didn't think that he would believe himself if he did.

"Go right ahead," I replied, relinquishing my control of the conversation. Edward was quiet as he thought.

"So, I know that you're different…" he thought out loud.

"Yes," I answered.

"Are you human?"

The question caught me completely off guard. What, did I not look human? That kind of thing could be taken offensively, to be completely honest. In truth, though, I didn't particularly want to answer it. Still… I'd told him that I would answer his questions, and I had already gone back on my word once tonight. Better not make it twice.

"No," I answered reluctantly. Edward's face was composed, and didn't show any signs of surprise. There _was_ something in his eyes, though. Almost like he had known the answer to the question but hadn't wanted hear it.

"Were you ever human?"

I nodded silently. Hopefully he wouldn't ask how long ago…

"So… are you, like, bionic? Or… a superhero or something?" His tone was joking, but the question was still serious. I laughed anyways.

"In a way, I guess," I said. It was kind of true – I was practically bionic. Almost indestructible, stronger than anything alive, and able to run at the speed of sound. "I'm not a superhero, though. Not even close." If anything, I was more of a bad guy.

"Well, you saved me."

I didn't know what to say to that. On one hand, it had seemed like pure dumb luck. On the other… maybe I really was trying to get closer to him. If saving him was the way to do it, it seemed to be working.

"How did you find me?" Edward suddenly asked, taking the conversation in a different direction. I wasn't quite sure how to answer that one, either. I couldn't just tell him that Alice had a vision and told me where to go, could I? It was pretty much the worst possible question for him to have asked.

"I… can't really answer that," I finally replied. "It was Alice that knew."

Edward's brow furrowed. "How?"

"Again, it's not mine to tell."

He nodded understandingly. Or at least as understandingly as one can when still insatiably curious. He fell silent once again and the air grew thick. That is, until he broke the silence.

"Fuck!" he suddenly yelped, making me jump.

"What?!" I screeched loudly. If my heart had still been able to beat, it would have been pounding.

"Slow down!" He yelled, clutching the armrests of the passenger seat. Confused and on an adrenaline rush, I looked at the speedometer.

"Why?" I was still very startled by his outburst.

"Because you're going a hundred miles an hour, that's why!" He was still shouting.

"Relax," I sighed as I rolled my eyes.

"Are you trying to kill us?" He demanded hotly.

"I'm not going to crash," I assured him. He didn't seem very assured.

"Say's who? You can't know that for sure…" his voice still had an underlying edge of panic to it.

"I've never been in a crash in my life, Edward," I declared – admittedly a little bit proudly.

"There's always time for a first…" he muttered darkly. Then, louder, "Anyways, if you wrap your car around a tree, you could probably just walk away. I, on the other hand, couldn't."

"That's true," I murmered. Slowly, the speedometer needle dropped to hover around 80. "Is that better?"

"Exponentially," he joked dryly. "Why are you in such a hurry, anyways?"

"I'm not. I just always drive like that," I tried to explain. "I hate driving slow." I was whining, unfortunately. Edward cracked a smile.

"This is slow?"

"Unbelievably…" Once again, silence descended on the car.

"What, no more 20 questions?" I finally joked after a few minutes. Edward laughed.

"I thought you didn't like answering questions."

I frowned. "It depends on what the question is."

"So if I asked you, say, what your favorite color is, you would answer that?"

"Sure," I nodded.

"So… what is your favorite color?"

I thought about it for a minute. "It changes from day to day. Today, it's brown."

"Brown?" Edward's eyebrows shot up questioningly.

"I like brown," I defended myself. "There isn't enough brown here. It's all just shades of green. Even things that are _supposed _to be brown aren't. Like dirt. And tree trunks. Everything here is covered in moss."

"That makes sense, I guess. Where did you live before you moved here?"

I had to think about this one, too. So many places, so many houses, over the years they started to blend together. "Mmm… I'm fairly certain that it was Alaska," I finally answered.

"Fairly certain?"

"Well, I've lived in lots of places. They've all started to blend together now."

"What do you remember most about Alaska?"

"The stars," I replied quickly. "And the sky. It was huge, and stretched as far as the eye could see. So many stars, the sky was on fire with them. It made me feel extremely insignificant. And kind of lonely."

"Lonely?" Edward's voice was soft now.

"When you're near that much beauty, it's hard not to be able to share it with somebody." He was silent, letting that sink in, and then broke the silence once again.

"What was your least favorite part of Alaska?"

I laughed at the question. "The people, definitely. At the high school there, it's like some cheesy 80's movie where they're all broken down into cliques."

Edward laughed. "Really?"

"Yes! There's the jocks, the mean girls and cheerleaders, the Goths, the geeks – having two divisions of chess and scienee, the musicians, and the artsy people, and a few slackers that everybody still manages to like. There's no room for leeway there."

"What were you?" He sounded extremely curious.

"I was a Cullen," I laughed. "We were our own special group."

"Just like here," Edward said quietly, suddenly serious.

"Well, _most_ people stay far away from us," I replied, just as serious. "They're instincts tell them that we're dangerous."

"_We_? As in, plural?"

Silently, I cursed myself. It had been a stupid slip of the tongue, but now I couldn't take it back. He would be able to tell that I was lying easily.

"Is the rest of your family… different, too?" Edward continued.

"Yeah…" I said quietly, nodding my head. Much to my surprise, Edward laughed.

"Well, I should have seen that coming. I mean, they all look like you, in a way, and act like you, too."

"You aren't surprised?" Instead of him being shocked, I was.

"No, not at all. It only makes more sense, really. Are your parents different, too?"

I nodded. "That was why they… adopted us, I suppose you could say."

"Did they really adopt you?"

"Figuratively speaking, yes. Literally, however, no. There's no paperwork to prove that they have custody of any of us."

By this time we had reached Forks. I navigated the streets quickly and was soon in front of Edward's house. There was a light on inside the living room and I could see his mother, back to the window, reading a book.

"Thank you, for everything," Edward said as he reached for the door. Gratitude was evident in his eyes, for saving him, for speaking openly with him, for telling him things that I hadn't wanted to.

"You're very welcome," I replied simply. And then, he was gone from my car. In a desperate attempt to bring him back, to say anything, I rolled down the window.

"Edward?" I called, questioningly. He leaned over to look in the window. "Tomorrow, it's my turn to ask the questions."

His laugh filled my head, easy and gentle.

"Goodnight, Edward," I said quietly, fanning my breath out over his face. "Try to stay safe." With those parting words, I put my car in reverse and was gone, driving back to my own house and my waiting family.

**Authors Note: Okay, so it's been, like FOREVER since I last updated. I know that this chapter is kind of short, but it's been something that I've been needing to write for a super long time and I just wanted to get it over with. Thank you soooo much to every body that's been reading and sticking with me, even when I drop off the face of the planet and don't update for ages and ages.**

**Hmm... this chapter was kind of hard to write and plus I kept on running upstairs to find my copy of Twilight every 5 minutes becuase it is the holy grail of all things fanfic realted and I was pretty much using it as a referance book for this chapter. I ALSO had to figure out how long it would take to drive from Port Angeles to Forks (about 70 miles) if you were doing 100 mph. I got 42 minutes... try doing the problem and telling me what you got! (Finally, those 8th grade algebra skills come in handy...)**


	12. 20 Questions AGAIN!

Chapter 12 – 20 Questions… AGAIN

Chapter 12 – 20 Questions… AGAIN!

**Bella's POV**

To say that I wasn't looking forwards to going home would be an understatement. To understand this, though, you have to look at it from the perspective of my family.

Firstly, there had been a human in my car. A human who they all knew I could barely stand to be around because of how appealing his blood was. And, of course, once they knew he had been in my car, they would come to the reasonable conclusion: that he was dead. Especially because he wasn't still in my car, for me to prove that he was still alive. Coming to this conclusion, they would also believe that I had killed him because I couldn't control myself. Which would mean that I had, so to speak, fallen off the wagon. Which would give Rosalie a chance to gloat because then my record would be far less clean than hers. As it was, my record was perfect – I had never, ever killed a human.

If and when I managed to convince them that I hadn't killed Edward… well, that part I was looking forwards to even less than trying to convince them in the first place. It would probably be easier to have dealt with actually killing him. Because my family was very involved (or tried to be very involved) in my social life. Social life being my love life. My non-existent love life. And, as I sat numbly in my car, driving home, I realized that I was falling in love with Edward. I had tried to run from it, avoid it, and ignore it, but it hadn't worked. Any of it. I was completely and irrevocably in love with Edward Mason. As soon as I realized it, I knew that my family would realize it. Alice and Jasper, the formidable couple, would be able to see it immediately – Jasper with his extra senses and Alice with her seeing the future.

Immediately I tried to discard that thought. Alice wouldn't be able to see anything because nothing would happen. Jasper was unavoidable, but Alice wasn't. I wouldn't act on what I felt for Edward, and therefore nothing would happen. Deciding this made me feel exponentially better in some ways, but there was also a feeling deep in my stomach that somehow felt worse. I won't be able to hurt him now, I tried to convince myself. My psyche wasn't buying it, however.

By this time I was just outside of the driveway to our house. I punched the gas and accelerated down the long, winding path through the woods to the house. The brakes of my car screeched as I slid to a halt outside the garage. I could practically hear Rosalie fuming, even before she started screaming.

"IF YOU RUIN THOSE TIRES AGAIN, I WILL NOT REPLACE THEM FOR YOU THIS TIME!" She shrieked from inside the garage. I could hear Emmett laughing, his laughter booming low and loud.

Instead of respond, I sat in my car. After a minute, Alice came outside to see what was taking so long. As soon as she opened the passenger side door, it hit her. Quite literally, actually. A breeze from outside swept into the interior of my car, bounced off the window next to me, and returned through the open door – right past Alice. It carried with it the scent of human, so strong Alice's eyes turned black. I could only imagine what my own eyes must have looked like.

Alice's mouth fell open in shock once she realized what she was smelling. I smiled sheepishly, which didn't help anything at all.

"Bella…" she hissed quietly and quite terrifyingly, "Who was in your car?" When I didn't answer, she took a tentative sniff. Suddenly, she gasped.

"It was that boy Edward, wasn't it?!" It was barely even a question, the way she said it. Before I knew what was happening, tiny Alice was dragging me out of my car and up the pathway to the house, yelling at me the entire time.

"Isabella Marie Swan Cullen, how could you? How could you make the stupid, stupid, stupid decision to have a human ride in your car, especially one who you knew you could barely even be around with out killing, and-" As it dawned on her, she froze. We were in the middle of the living room, with our confused looking family drifting in to see what was happening.

"You didn't kill him, did you?" Her voice was quiet now, but there was an edge to it. She didn't know if I had, and probably doubted that I hadn't.

"No!" I exclaimed, throwing myself down on the couch. Esme made a move to stop me from hitting the couch so hard, and then sighed.

"Honey, don't sit down so hard. We just replaced the last couch that you broke…" she reminded me gently.

"Esme!" Alice cried. "There are more important matters at hand then broken couches! Are you sure you didn't kill him, Bella?"

"Yes!" I half snarled. Alice looked surprised.

"Oh. You did kill him?"

I rolled my eyes dramatically. "No, I didn't kill him. Yes, I'm _sure_ I didn't kill him." By this time everybody else had entered the room. Emmett was the first to speak.

"Who?" he asked innocently.

"No one!" I snarled at the same time as Alice said, "Edward."

"Oh… he was the one she's been mooning over ever since she came back from Alaska, isn't he?" Rosalie said as she wiped oil off of her hands onto an old rag. If it was possible for me to blush, my face would have been as red as a fire truck.

"Yes!" Alice, Jasper, and Emmett exclaimed simultaneously.

"S'not true," I mumbled in protest, avoiding looking at any of them.

"He's not the one that you've been mooning over?" Esme asked innocently.

"I haven't been mooning over _anybody_," I moaned. Once again, my entire family snorted simultaneously. Even Carlisle and Esme! They were supposed to be the non-judgmental ones!

"So…" Emmett started, "Did anything happen? Between you two, you know…" I was absolutely certain that I was about to die from embarrassment.

"Nothing happened!" This was what I had been praying that I could avoid. Of course, my prayers had been in vain.

"Well, how did it all come about?" To my shock, it was Esme who was posing the questions now. And she sounded genuinely curious, too.

"He needed a ride!" I explained. It sounded more like protests, though. Alice laughed. At me.

"He did not and you know it. He could have gotten a ride with his friends just as easily."

I wanted to crawl under a rock and die. Emmett laughed heartily as I buried my head in my hands.

"So, why did you, then?" Rosalie asked, curious despite herself.

"I don't _know_…" I moaned forlornly.

"Yeah, I can tell," Jasper groaned. "Your confusion is drowning me."

"Sorry," I apologized offhandedly. Jasper just shook his head and rubbed his temples. Alice patted his knee and then turned back to me.

"So, you didn't kill him and nothing happened. What _did _you do?"

"We talked!" I exclaimed, completely exasperated.

"That's all?" Emmett asked scornfully.

"Yes, that's all. Really."

"What did you talk about?" Esme asked sweetly, a huge contrast to Emmett's question. Immediately, I started to feel uncomfortable. Jasper could tell and easily guessed what we had been talking about.

"Oh, no," he half gasped, half moaned.

"What?" Alice, Emmett, and Rosalie asked simultaneously. What were they, the Brady Bunch? Where had this sudden speaking in unison thing come from?

"Why the hell would you talk about _that_?" Jasper groaned, ignoring everybody else. "I mean, really. Of all the possible topics…"

"It wasn't like _I_ was the one that brought it up! After I saved him… he really wanted to know!"

"Well, you know it probably would have helped if you hadn't offered to give him a ride home!"

"He would have just found another time to ask, probably in a place far less convienant."

"What did they talk about?!" Alice shouted, interrupting Jasper and I. I turned to glare at her.

"He wanted to know what I was!" I shouted back. Silence descended over the room. By this time I was standing, having jumped to my feet when I was arguing with Jasper. My hands were balled in tight fists and I wanted to hit something.

"Well, did you tell him?" Carlisle's voice came, breaking through my haze of anger.

"No," I groaned, throwing myself back down on the couch. Esme flinched again. "I told him that I would, but I just couldn't. I couldn't do it, and so he tried to guess. But he didn't… he couldn't guess what… No, he doesn't know."

The room heaved a collective sigh and the tension seeped out.

"So you aren't going to tell him?" Emmett asked casually.

"No. Not unless he guesses it. I don't think that I could deny it, if he managed to."

"Ah, he won't guess," Rosalie said with a wave of her hand.

"Don't be so sure," Alice contradicted her darkly.

"He'll guess?" I was completely shocked. Alice shrugged.

"Probably not. But there's always that chance…"

I rolled my eyes and stood up.

"If it isn't likely, I'm not going to worry about it. I'm going to my room."

With those parting words to my family, I trudged upstairs, slower than a human usually walks, to go moon over Edward Mason alone in my room.

**A/N: Okay, so I know that this chapter was purdy crappy… but I really needed to get that in there. Just so… yeah. **

**On another note…. Happy 4****th**** of July! Consider this my present to you for… um… the courage of our forefathers and freedom in general. Yup!**

**Hm… if this weather persists, you can probably expect more chapters soon… yesterday it rained all day long and there was thunderstorms and such… very terrifying indeed! But it didn't make me feel bad about sitting on the computer all day long because there was, like, nothing else AT ALL to do except watch Brokeback Mountain (which I did). So today is all loverly and CLOUDY but not raining… typical Bellingham weather… very unfortunate indeed. I went to my sisters softball game and me and her friend did a rain dance, which worked, so then we did an anti-rain dance which didn't work and then… the thunder and lightning started! It was TERRIFYING! The lightning was effing HUGE!! It lit up the sky like some kind of fricking ATOM BOMB! Anyways… so, everybody in those parts of the country that actually get good weather in the summertime, be glad! It could always be worse! Oh… which reminds me… at the softball game my sister's friend gave me the numbers to the… da da da daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa **

**Rejection Hotline**

**Bad Breath Notification Hotline**

**It Could Always Be Worse Hotline**

**They are hilarious!! Review if you want the numbers!! You could always use them on that creep that won't leave you alone and keeps on asking for your phone number but you're too nice to tell them to leave you alone… yes, a very useful thing indeed!**


	13. Down the Rabbit Hole

A/N: Alrighty… I just wanted to make it be known that my other story, now titled What Will Never Be is up

**A/N: Alrighty… I just wanted to make it be known that my other story, now titled What Will Never Be is up! So… go check that out! It's a huge cliffie… but I will be updating soon BECAUSE… I already have most of it written! Yes! I am holding out chapters for reviews! So go check that out, and while you're at it, review!**

**Now… on with the story. This was kind of hard to write because it's more… mellow than the last chapter and it didn't direct itself like the last few have. I actually had to work on this one! :'(**

**Disclaimer: Do I really need this? Obviously I don't own Twilight, I'm not Stephanie Meyer, and I don't own Google, either. So there! I do, however, own NASA and the Olympics… okay, maybe not.**

Chapter 13 – Down the Rabbit Hole

Edward's POV

The first thing that I did when I got home was go to my computer. Well, the first thing after my mother had assaulted me with questions.

"Hi, mom," I called tentatively once I opened the door.

"Oh, hi, Edward," she greeted me, looking up from a magazine. I looked at the magazine appraisingly and then back at her.

"Funny, I didn't know that you were interested in Sports Illustrated."

She blushed and put the magazine down, cover blown. "You caught me," she laughed. "Why don't you come sit down and tell me about how it was? You're home earlier than I thought you would be…"

I sat on the couch and propped my feet up on the coffee table once I had kicked my shoes off.

"It was fun," I said, shrugging my shoulders. Then, knowing that she wouldn't be satisfied with only that, I added, "The music store didn't really have anything, though."

"Did you get a ride home with Mike? I thought that he was driving that van."

Uh oh. I had hoped that she hadn't noticed that. It was going to be rather hard to explain…

"Uh, no, I didn't," I replied cautiously.

"Who, then? Was it one of Mike's friends? I didn't know that any of them drove such an expensive car."

"No," I shook my head, biting my lip. Suddenly, my mom looked extremely concerned.

"You weren't hitchhiking, were you?"

I couldn't help but laugh at the idea. "No, I wasn't hitchhiking."

"Well, who was it, then?"

Here it comes… "Umm, Bella Cullen."

She blinked once, twice, and then a third time. "Oh." That one little syllable was so full of surprise, I almost laughed again. "You mean, Dr. Cullen's daughter?"

I nodded. "Yeah…"

"Not the blond one, right?" Her eyes narrowed a little bit.

"No."

"Good. Because she's too old for you, anyways. Which one is this… Bella?"

I groaned loudly. "Mom, I'm not going out with her. I just got a ride home… that's it! And the blond one is 18, she's only a year older than me." She glared at me.

"Still… which one is Bella?"

"Um… well, she's taller than Alice, but shorter than Rosalie – that's the blond one. She's brunette, her hair is pretty long…" I tried to explain. There were other things that I could have said, but I didn't think that my mom would appreciate it if I started telling her about how gorgeous and graceful and beautiful Bella was.

"And how did that all… come about?"

"Well, I went to the music store when the all went to eat, because I wanted to check out what they had. Which was nothing, by the way."

My mom glared at me to continue.

"So, when I was leaving the music store, I got lost. I was wandering around downtown Port Angeles, trying to find everybody else, when Bella found me." I was editing the story quite a bit, obviously. "She offered to give me a ride to the restaurant where all the other guys were, and so I went with her. She had been shopping in Port Angeles with her sister," I added to dispel my mom's suspicious look. "When we got there, they were all just about to leave and Bella and I hadn't eaten yet, so Bella told them that they could go home and that she would give me a ride. The end."

"That's it?" she looked almost disappointed.

"Yup," I nodded. Suddenly, she leaned in and stage-whispered, "Did you kiss her?"

"Mom!" I shouted, jumping up.

"Well, did you?" She leaned back, looking very pleased with herself.

"No, I did not," I half hissed.

"Well, you looked pretty dazed when you came in. You never know…" she trailed off as I left the room and went upstairs.

Gah. Of course I had looked dazed when I came inside, I thought to myself. Bella was just so… dazzling. And intoxicating and… the list could go on forever. I tried, and failed, to put Bella out of my mind as I went to shower. Once I was done, I threw on a pair of basketball shorts and a tee shirt and went to sit down at my computer.

_Time for a little bit of research,_ I thought as I booted up my computer. The first website that I went to was Google. If anything, that would be where I could find what I needed. In the search box, I entered what I knew about Bella. _Pale, super strong, gold eyes, human appearance, indestructible… _I thought for a minute and then also entered, _inhumanly beautiful, cold skin. _Finally, I hit the search button. After 0.27 seconds, I had 295 results. Sighing, I began to scroll through the results that I had. Most of them weren't helpful at all, only one peaked my interest. It was about the succubus, the supposed inhumanly beautiful demon. The only thing that fit with that, though, was the inhuman beauty. Bella didn't seem like a demon _or _one who would attempt to seduce monks to me.

Finally, in a last-ditch attempt to find _anything _worthwhile, I opened up a chat room focused on Indian myths and legends. There were three people signed in – Quileutegurl13, Vamp-lover78, and Mysterious1. They seemed to be talking about vampires, something that I was sure Bella wasn't. Just as I was about to close the window, though, I saw something that caught my eye.

_I've heard that they can come out in the day and be around humans, _Mysterious1 had written.

_They live in covens, too. Usually around 5 to 10 of them will live together, _Vamp-lover78 had replied.

Bella and her family consisted of 7 people. It was an unusually large family… even for an adopted one. Deep in my mind, the tiniest bit of suspicion stirred.

_This is stupid…_ I thought as I signed in as Musician-man17. Quickly, I typed in the question that had been burning in my mind.

_Muisician-Man17: So, what are these vampires supposed to look like? _

The first one to respond was Quileutegurl13.

_Quileutegurl13: Well, it depends on what legend you believe in._

_Musician-Man17: I don't really believe in any of them. I'm just curious._

_Mysterious1: We were talking about an old legend from the Quileute tribe._

_Musician-Man17: Okay, so what are the vampires from this legend supposed to look like?_

_Quileutegurl13: Inhumanly beautiful. Super pale. Incredibly strong. Practically indestructible. Cold, rock solid skin. Can run faster than… anything. Despite it all, though, they look human. They're supposed to have gold eyes, too. Because of their diet._

_Musician-Man17: Their diet?_

_Vamp-lover78: They don't hunt humans._

_Quileutegurl13: Which means that they aren't supposed to be dangerous. That's what the legend says._

_Musician-Man17: Will you tell me the legend?_

_Quileutegurl13: Sure thing. Just don't believe any of it… I think that the tribe elders were on crack when they made this up._

_Quileutegurl13: Okay, so apparently, there are these people. Vampire people. We call them the cold ones._

_Musician-Man17: Cold ones?_

_Quileutegurl13: Yep. Cold ones. According to the legend, my great-grandfather knew them. He was a tribal elder. And, if you believe the legend, he helped to make a treaty to keep them off of our land._

_Musician-Man17: Your land?_

_Quileutegurl13: The Quileute tribal reservation. _

_Musician-Man17: Oh. Go on…_

_Quileutegurl13: Because, you see, the cold ones were the natural enemies of the wolf. There's also a legend that says that our tribe descended from wolves, and that the wolves are still our brothers. That's why it's against tribal law to kill them. _

_Quileutegurl13: And actually, the cold ones weren't even the natural enemies of the wolf. They were the natural enemies of the men that could turn into wolves. I guess that you could call them werewolves._

_Vamp-lover78: Hey, I thought that this chatroom was only about vamps._

_Mysterious1: Shut up. I'm enjoying this story._

_Musician-man17: Okay, so the werewolves only one natural enemy was the… cold ones?_

_Quileutegurl13: Yep. So this pack came onto our land during my great-grandfather's time. Except they were different than the others like them. They didn't hunt humans, so they weren't supposed to be as dangerous. My great-grandfather made a truce with them that said that if they stayed off of our land, we wouldn't expose them to the white people._

_Musician-man17: And they agreed to this?_

_Quileutegurl13: Uh huh. Their leader, Carlisle, he agreed to the treaty._

When I read that name, I froze. Bella's adopted father's name was Carlisle… could it really be that much of a coincidence? Still… it had been a long, long time ago. The 'cold one' in question would probably be long dead. That is, unless he couldn't die… My hands were shaking as I typed my next question.

_Musician-man17: How many of them were there?_

_Quileutegurl13: Only 3. Carlisle, his wife, their son, and their daughter. _

_Vamp-lover78: Did the legend ever say that they left?_

_Quileutegurl13: Yes. They couldn't age, and so eventually they had to leave, before people could become suspicious. _

_Vamp-lover78: Did they ever come back?_

_Quileutegurl13: Yes. That's the worst part of the legend that not even I can believe: apparently, they're living here right now. Except now there's more of them – two new females and one new male._

I swear, my heart just about stopped when I read that.

_Musician-Man17: And where is here?_

_Quileutegurl13: Well, I live on the rez, but they don't… obviously, if we're still believing in the legend… they live in Forks._

_Musician-man17: Washington?_

_Quileutegurl13: Yeah! How did you know?_

_Musician-man17: I live there, too…_

_Vamp-lover78: OMG! Really? _

_Mysterious1: Haha, watch out for vamps._

_Quileutegurl13: Hmm… you don't happen to know anybody by the name of Cullen, do you?_

_Musician-man17: Is it bad if I do?_

_Quileutegurl13: Only if you believe in the legend…_

_Musician-man17: Shit_

_Musician-man17: So, you're telling me that the Cullens are these supposed cold ones?_

_Quileutegurl13: Well, they aren't supposed to be dangerous, because they don't hunt humans. Once again…_

_Vamp-lover78: But you still don't let them on your land…_

_Quileutegurl13: Well, yeah. Just because they aren't supposed to be dangerous doesn't mean they aren't. If one of them got thirsty, for example, and lost control…_

_Quileutegurl13: It's just superstition. I don't believe it one bit._

_Mysterious1: Aww, come on now, don't ruin it._

_Musician-man17: Wow_

_Musician-man17: I have goose bumps. You're a very good storyteller…_

_Quileutegurl13: Thank you, thank you. I do try._

_Musician-man17: Thanks for telling me that story…_

With those parting words, I logged off. My brain was in a frenzy, trying to sort through what I had just learned. According to this person, the Cullens were… vampires. Old vampires, too. Ancient. But not dangerous because they didn't… don't… drink blood.

Hands still shaking, I turned off my computer and threw myself down on my bed. Bella Cullen… a vampire. Somehow, I could almost see it. That black glare that she could deliver so easily, that made you feel so vulnerable and unsafe… How she said that she was dangerous, that her entire family was like her… different. I felt like I was Alice in Wonderland and had just fallen down the rabbit hole into a completely different world. One where vampires went to high school and the girl that you had a crush on could be immortal.

Gold eyes.

Inhuman beauty.

Incredible strength.

Rock hard, frigid skin.

Indestructible.

Immortal.

Somehow, unbelievably, in the back of my mind I started to believe it.

Bella Cullen was a vampire.

**A/N: Ohhhhhhhhhh… cliffie, much? Okay… so, I know that a lot of you are probably like, WTF? He found out in a CHATROOM? But… you know, I just kind of liked the idea. It's impossible sounding and probably would never happen… so I felt like it fit with the rest of the story. Plus, he had to find out SOMEHOW and I didn't want to send him off to first beach to find out from some female version of Jacob… that's just a bit to clichéd, you know?**

**Review if you love me!**

**Check out my other story… it's purdy coolio! plus, I've decided that because I have most of that written in advance and none of this written in advance, I'm going to alternate updating. Like, update this, update that. That way… lalala! I won't get lazy and ditch this story in favor of the easier to write one! Yay!**


	14. Going Slightly Mad

Chapter 14 – Going Slightly Mad

Edward's POV

By the time I got up in the morning, I think that I had slept all of 4 hours. I couldn't fall asleep, no matter how hard I tried. And once I did, I could only stay asleep for about fifteen minutes before I woke up again, some crazy dream jerking me from my fitful sleep. Bella was all that I could think of, and I couldn't clear her image from my mind.

Could she possibly be a… vampire? Or was it just that I was slowly going crazy?

I hummed as I got ready to go to school, rinsing out my bowl of cereal once I had finished it and getting dressed.

"_When the outside temperature rises  
And the meaning is oh so clear  
One thousand and one yellow daffodils  
Begin to dance in front of you - oh dear  
Are they trying to tell you something?  
You're missing that one final screw  
You're simply not in the pink my dear  
To be honest you haven't got a clue_…"

"I'm going slightly maaaaaaaaaaaddd!" I crowed as I stepped out the door. Suddenly, I jumped back, shrieking loudly and rather femininely. Sitting in the driveway was a metallic blue Mercedes Convertible with -who else?- Bella sitting in the drivers seat. She was smirking slightly and watching me as I tried to restart my heart. After a minute I hoisted my backpack up higher on my shoulder and went around the passenger side to lean in the window.

"Hey," I said cautiously.

"Hey," Bella replied. "Would you like a ride?" That rather took me by surprise. But then again, why would she have been sitting in my driveway?

"Sure." I accepted without really thinking, opening the door and sliding in. As soon as the door had closed, I suddenly remembered what I had been thinking about before Bella's sudden appearance scattered my thoughts. That Bella could be, maybe was… a vampire. I mentally cringed away from the word and distracted myself by looking around the sleek interior of the Mercedes. The car smelled wonderful, like nothing I'd ever experienced before.

"Do you use an air freshener?" I asked, once again not thinking. I could have kicked myself for sounding so stupid. Bella laughed softly, almost snorting.

"I can't stand the things. They reek," she shook her head balefully.

"Oh. Because it smells_ really_ good in here." Could I possibly get any stupider? Bella just shrugged her shoulders, not answering me. Uh oh… I savagely hoped that the openness between us the night before wasn't already gone. Then again, now that I knew what she was… No. I shook the thought out of my head, angry with myself. You don't know that's what she really is, I told myself. Don't jump to conclusions and don't loose your head. You're going to need it if you're going to tell her that dumb ass theory of yours.

And what better time than the present? We were as alone as we were going to get for the time being and, with her speeding along so fast, we probably would only be alone for another five minutes before we reached school. My heart sped up at the bleak prospect of sharing my idea. It was almost as if Bella could hear my heartbeat, she looked at me with concern in her eyes, a slight crease forming between her eyebrows.

"So," I started, trying to keep my voice nonchalant, "can I ask you a question?"

"Heh, no." Bella laughed. I swear my heart skipped a beat when I heard that – whether it was her surprising answer or her bell-like laugher, I couldn't tell. "It's my turn to ask the questions today, remember?"

"True, true," I murmured. "What did you want to ask me?" She pondered that for a moment.

"Any new theories?"

I nearly had a heart attack. "No…" I lied. Then, seeing her face, I added, "Well… maybe, um, kryptonite?"

Once again, I was rewarded with peals of bell-like laughter.

"Stealing from comic books isn't very original, Edward."

"True. But it's rather hard to come up with an explanation for why somebody can stop a car with their bare hands, even if you have the most active of imaginations."

As soon as the words left my mouth, I saw her eyes harden and her grip tighten on the steering wheel.

"I'd rather you not mention that to anybody today, please." Her voice had a hard edge to it. I was surprised, but hid it.

"I wasn't planning to."

She seemed to relax a little at hearing that. "Thank you," she murmured.

"Certainly."

**A/N: Alright, that was short and lame… but I needed to get back into the whole shindig of writing and… pretty much yeah. The next chapter will be much longer… so yeah. What did you think? Probably rather anticlimactic after the super long wait, but yeah. The next chapter will be way longer. And I'll even start on it tonight!**


	15. A HUNDRED and Twenty Questions

**Chapter 15 – A _Hundred_ and 20 Questions**

_Previously…_

"_True. But it's rather hard to come up with an explanation for why somebody can stop a car with their bare hands, even if you have the most active of imaginations."_

_As soon as the words left my mouth, I saw her eyes harden and her grip tighten on the steering wheel._

"_I'd rather you not mention that to anybody today, please." Her voice had a hard edge to it. I was surprised, but hid it._

"_I wasn't planning to."_

_She seemed to relax a little at hearing that. "Thank you," she murmured._

Bella's POV

"Certainly," Edward nodded. He didn't say any more as we pulled out of the driveway. A half minute later, I broke the silence.

"Any more theories?"

Edward was silent. He looked… guilty? "One. It's… it's ridiculous."

Ridiculous? Damn. He probably was spot on, then. It would be best to go about this delicately. "Would you care to share?"

Edward just shook his head. Another thick silence descended upon us. Say something, Bella… say something quickly, before he could get more questions in. "So… Queen?"

Edward's face immediately coloured, making my throat burn with the scent.

"My dad really liked Queen. He was into all those 80's big hair bands and stuff," he explained.

"Big hair bands," I laughed. "What a fantastic way to describe them." I should know. I _had_ lived through that era… and had some incredibly big hair myself. "What else did he introduce you too?"

"Everything. My dad was the reason that I'm so into music… he taught me to play the piano."

Memories of my human life started to surface, but before they could fully form I shoved them back down. For the first time in my life as a vampire, I fought to shove the memories of my human life back into my subconscious. And the funny thing was, I didn't really even care if I would be able to bring them back when I was alone. All I wanted was to stay in the moment with Edward.

"My father taught me to play the guitar…" I muttered. And then I realized exactly how morbid I sounded. Change the subject…

"So you live with your mom and dad, then?" I asked.

"No, I only live with my mom," he answered slowly. I could sense a little bit of resistance, but for some reason it only made me want to know more.

"Are your parents separated?" True, it was a little rude. And true, I was totally prying… but still.

Edward slowly shook his head. "No, actually. My dad died when I was ten years old."

I was shocked. "Oh, wow. I'm so sorry, I had no idea." It's rather hard to shock a vampire, and Edward had managed to do it quite a bit in the short time that I had known him.

"Yeah, actually, in the end it was why we came to Forks," Edward continued conversationally. "My mom, she couldn't stand staying in the house anymore, with the reminder of him always there. And she grew up in Forks, so she figured why not come back here?"

"Oh," I nodded sagely. "Was it hard for you to leave New York?"

"Not really. My mom had this idea that I had tons of friends there, but I really didn't. I guess it was hard for me to leave the city, because I grew up there. I miss the diversity."

I smiled. "Yeah… Forks is pretty bad diversity-wise. Not half as bad as San Francisco in the fifties, thought."

As soon as the words left my lips, my mind froze. No…. no, no, no. I was getting too comfortable with him, letting things slip…

"San Francisco?" Edward asked cautiously. That wasn't his real question, though. I could feel the underlying question, hear it in my head: _The fifties?_

"One of the many places I've lived," I replied. Careful, smooth, innocent. Lie better, Bella. "I was born there." That wasn't a lie. But… Oh, shit. That made it seem like I _lived_ in San Francisco in the fifties. Which was true, of course. But not something that Edward needed to know.

What was he thinking? It was so hard to guess his thoughts. He was looking at me. At my hands… My extremely white hands.

Oh. So that was it.

"It was a long time ago." A really, really long time ago. "I lost my tan… evidently."

Edward laughed. And I wasn't even lying anymore, a nice bonus. An even nicer bonus: he apparently hadn't noticed my fifties slip.

"So… the fifties?" Edward's voice was cautious, but not shaky.

Shit. Dodging bullets was _not_ my forte. Lies shot through my mind immediately, as expected, supplying me with any number of escape routes. But I was sick of the lies. I didn't want to expend the energy to create a story. And most of all… the scariest thought yet; I wanted Edward to know the truth. I decided to give him the choice.

"Do you want the truth or a lie?" I asked. He looked surprised, as if he'd been expecting the usual cover-up. His silence was expected as he considered my offer.

_Please ask for the truth, _I found myself thinking. Surprise shot through me, like a blast of adrenaline from underneath one's breastbone. What was happening to me?

_You're in love._

This time I couldn't tell if it was the evil voice or the good voice.

Edward hadn't replied yet. It had been… it had been two seconds. It felt like my brain was strung out on drugs, operating far too fast for the outside world. How much time had passed now? Damn. Two and a half seconds. Hurry up, Edward. My mind was cataloging every single sound he made. Sharp tapping from his hand on the dashboard. Slightly irregular breathing – it had sped up in the three seconds since I had posed the question, as had his heartbeat, a dull thudding from behind his ribs.

A sharp intake of breath warned me that he was going to answer my question. My hands tightened on the wheel and every muscle in my body tensed, preparing for rejection.

"The truth, I suppose," Edward half-whispered.

My heart leapt with a happiness that I hadn't felt in years, at least fifty. Without thinking, I veered off the road going to the school. An elated smile broke across my face, probably terrifying Edward. Why was I so happy to divulge my secrets? It was so odd… All my life as a vampire I had tried to hid my secret, telling lies or moving away when people became suspicious. But now… not only was I trying to keep the truth from him, I was fueling the fire.

"Umm… Bella?" Edward's voice broke into my consciousness. He sounded nervous. "We aren't… We aren't going to school, are we?" It was more of a guess than a question.

I stopped smiling and looked at him. Hopefully I hadn't misjudged his tolerance. "You… you don't mind, do you?"

Edward laughed. He sounded… happy. "No… I definitely do not mind."

I smiled to myself.

And then I realized – this meant that I had to explain to Edward… everything. My mind reeled with the thought. Could I handle this? I took a deep breath to steady myself. Mmmmm… not a good idea. Edward's scent seared my throat like a branding iron. Instead of shaking my resolve, though, it strengthened me. If I was able to be in the same car as Edward, who tested my strength every second I was with him, I should certainly be able to tell him my story.

And now it looked as if I would have to.

**Notes: *hides under a rock* Please please please please don't kill me. Please. Merry Christmas to you all, here is my present to you.**


	16. A Walk Through The Woods

**Chapter 16 – A Walk Through The Woods**

_Previously:_

_And then I realized – this meant that I had to explain to Edward… everything. My mind reeled with the thought. Could I handle this? I took a deep breath to steady myself. Mmmmm… not a good idea. Edward's scent seared my throat like a branding iron. Instead of shaking my resolve, though, it strengthened me. If I was able to be in the same car as Edward, who tested my strength every second I was with him, I should certainly be able to tell him my story. _

_And now it looked as if I would have to._

Bella's POV

Edward was silent as I drove. I didn't really no where I was going, so it didn't bother me much. I needed to find someplace quiet and secluded… somewhere that Edward would feel safe. For some reason he seemed oddly comfortable around me, but I knew that would change very drastically very quickly. If he adhered to the normal patterns of human behaviour, that is. Which was always a gamble with him.

Back to the task at hand. Where was I going? The woods? Hmm… maybe that meadow. Except that it was raining. Not very hard, though, more of a mist. Somewhere in the trees then. Quiet… secluded… calm. There was a river about a quarter mile from our house. I could park on the road and hike to the river. If something were to happen – say, Edward freaking out – it would be easy to hide. I adjusted my course accordingly.

I parked on the side of the road by the driveway going to my family's house, just far enough away that Edward couldn't see the driveway. It was odd, but I wasn't quite ready to have Edward know where I lived yet. Perhaps later, when I could get Alice's opinion on the matter… and make sure that Emmett wouldn't embarrass me.

I sat in the car for a few moments, not talking, trying to figure out what to say. I settled on simple.

"Would you like to take a hike with me, Edward?"

He looked at me, and then at the woods out the window. "No trail?"

"No trail," I confirmed. He grinned, slightly dazzling me.

"That sounds fun," he said.

We walked through the woods for twenty minutes – much longer than needed for where we were going, but I wanted to make sure he was thoroughly lost, enough so that he wouldn't be able to find his way back on his own. Just in case it was all too much for him and he lost it. It wouldn't help me any if he ran away and hurt himself in the woods. If he didn't think he could get back, he might be more reluctant to run.

As we walked, we talked more; about him, about me, about our families and our pasts. He already knew about my family, but only the basics. I didn't tell him the public story about how Carlisle and Esme had adopted us, but only the barest outline: the order in which we had been "adopted". I public story went something like this…

Rosalie and Jasper were the first two to be adopted. Their parents had been friends of Carlisle and Esme, and when they were killed while on a missionary trip Carlisle and Esme had offered to adopt them, as they didn't have any children of their own.

I was the third to be adopted. When I was fifteen, both my parents had died in a plane crash. I had been in a car accident shortly afterwards and ended up in the hospital where Carlisle was working. Esme had convinced Carlisle that they should adopt me, and shortly afterwards I was a part of the Cullen family.

After I had been adopted, it was discovered that I had a half brother and sister – children from my father's previous marriage. Right before our father had died, their mother, who had never remarried, had been diagnosed with cancer. The chemotherapy was unsuccessful, and she died just months after her diagnosis. The courts were able to track down me and found that my legal guardian was Carlisle. Carlisle, being Carlisle, had offered to take care of the two children; Alice and Emmett.

The actual story, of course, is very different from this. I began my story by telling Edward the more accurate version of this.

"Carlisle… well, for lack of a better word, adopted us," I told him, ignoring his curious look. He would understand soon enough. "Rosalie was first, and then Emmett. I was third, and Alice and Jasper came together."

Edward looked confused. "But, I thought that Rosalie and Jasper were siblings. Were they adopted at different times?"

I shook my head. "Rosalie and Jasper aren't related. They look enough alike that it passes, but nothing could be farther from the truth."

"Your family… they're all like you, aren't they?" His voice was strong and even. I was surprised by how easily he handled weirdness. Soon enough I'd see to what extent, though.

"Yes," I confirmed. "And you know that Alice and Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett are… together, yes?" Edward nodded yes as I held a branch aside for him. We were almost to the river.

I laughed. There was something in his face, as if he were afraid of trespassing on something socially unacceptable.

"It's not as terribly incestuous as it sounds," I reassured him. He laughed nervously. "None of us are even related. I swear."

"So… how did you all end up living together, then?" Edward asked. I was at a loss of how to answer that without telling him everything. Perhaps I could put off answering him for a few more minutes, until we reached the creek. The running water soothed me, it would help me to tell him my story calmly.

He took my silence as a push to start guessing. "Is it because you're all alike?"

"Yes," I confirmed, nodding.

"Are there others like you?" He asked. He sounded more curious than anything else, as if he had just discovered a fascinating new science.

"Yes. Many others," I said. I could hear the water running – we were almost there. "Does that surprise you?"

"A bit," Edward admitted. "I can't imagine anyone else like you."

I smiled as I pulled back one last branch, exposing the creek. It bubbled downhill, winding it's way through rocks and past a large oak tree. I went to sit on a large, flat rock beneath the oak and Edward sat on a neighbouring rock. When we were settled, I spoke again.

"How old do you think I am?"

Edward looked surprised at the question. "Seventeen," he answered quickly. I cocked my head slightly and remained silent. His eyebrows slowly knit together as he realized that he was wrong. "You're… you're not seventeen, are you?"

"Physically, yes. But… well, I've been seventeen for quite a while now."

_The fifties…_ I saw him mouth the words. "Bella… how old are you?"

Not now. Wait… just, wait a moment, Bella. First things first.

"Edward," I started, "You are the first human that I have ever told my story to. Do you… do you know what I am?" I looked up at him, expecting confusion or disgust… anything but what was there. He was looking at me with understanding and compassion, even a bit of anticipation.

"I think I know," he said. His voice was quiet, a bit husky. "It's a ridiculous idea. Almost insulting."

I laughed quietly. "If it's ridiculous and insulting, than it's probably true."

Edward wasn't laughing. He looked down at the creek. After a moment's hesitation, he whispered, "Vampire."

My dead heart skipped a beat. Quickly, Edward looked up to meet my gaze. There was a question written across his face; could he possibly be correct?

I nodded slowly. "Are you afraid of me?"

Edward paused, and then shook his head. Shit. It would have been so much easier if he had been terrified, if he had run screaming. I wouldn't have to be around him anymore, we could move away, I would stop putting him in danger every second.

But… at the same time, something inside me leaped. Something that I hadn't felt since… at least since I was human. It was warm and fuzzy and made me want to sing… It reminded me of fireworks, and a turquoise Ford pickup, and a blue dress.

With that thought lingering in my head, I began to tell Edward Mason my story.


	17. Bella's Story

**Chapter 17 – Bella's Story**

Bella's POV

"I was born in San Francisco in 1937, just before the depression ended. My parents were Charlie and Rene Swan – Charlie was a police officer and Rene was a teacher. Unfortunately, I can't remember most of my childhood.

"When I was 16 years old, in 1953, my parents went to visit Rene's parents in the mid-west. They died in a plane crash on the way there and I was orphaned. The records show that I went to live in foster care, but I can't remember what happened during that time. I do remember 1955. I had been in foster care for just over a year when I was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer. Not much was known about cancer in the fifties, and even still, none of it could have helped me. The disease was far to progressed.

"This was how Carlisle found me – dying in the hospital. I could tell at once when I saw him that he was something other than human. I was only seventeen at the time and loathe to die so young. I begged him to save me, to do whatever he could to keep death at bay. I was terrified to die.

"Carlisle took me home that night. I met Esme, his wife, and Rosalie and Emmett, his children. They were all like him. I learned that he had… he had made Esme when he found her dying, also in the hospital. She had fallen from a cliff. When they found that they couldn't have children, Carlisle started looking for another to change. He would never take the life of someone who was healthy, and has only ever changed four of us. We were all on the brink of death.

"Carlisle found what he was looking for not long after he created Esme. While out on a walk one night, he found Rosalie Hale, a girl from the town that they had been living in. She had been attacked by a gang and lay dying in the street. He took her home and turned changed her, saving her life. Rosalie was never happy as a vampire, though.

"Emmett was changed third. Rosalie found him one day while she was out hunting. He had been mauled by a bear and was barely alive. There was something in his eyes that compelled her to save him, and she took him back to Carlisle, afraid that she wouldn't be able to change him on her own.

"They answered my questions when I asked them, and explained what they were. They explained to me about how they hunt animals instead of humans in an attempt to preserve their humanity. It seemed to me to be very effective. For all their odd, faintly non-human quirks, they were more human than many people I had met in my short life.

"That night, before I fell asleep, exhausted from the exertion, I made Carlisle promise that he would change me. Rosalie tried her hardest to convince me that it would be better to die than to become one of them, but I was just as stubborn as she was. She pleaded with Carlisle not to comply with my request, but he insisted that it was my choice, not hers.

"That night, I went into cardiac arrest. My body had been so weakened by my disease that my heart could not support it anymore. Carlisle changed me then and their, in his house.

"Days later, the change was completed and I woke up." Here I took the liberty of editing a bit: I left out the burning pain of the change and the three days of torture, my years as a newborn, and the innocents that I had accidentally killed. I picked up a few years after the change had taken place, when I was more in control.

"We moved from town to town, leaving when the people became suspicious of us. A few years later, Alice and Jasper joined us. Alice had a special… talent, I suppose, that had allowed her to find us. She could glimpse the future, and had seen us. Jasper too had a special talent; he can influence the emotions of those around him. Alice had seen our family and taken a special interest in our… diet. Her and Jasper decided to stay with us, and hunt as we do.

"When I met you, Edward, I had no idea how much of a challenge you would pose for me. We… we have a very acute sense of smell, and I could… well, I could smell your blood. It was so strong, so potent, and more appealing than anything I had ever come across. I -"

I broke off there. There wasn't much more I could say, without truly terrifying him. Or revealing those feelings that I wasn't even sure I was feeling.

Absentmindedly, I scratched moss from the rock that I was sitting on. Edward was watching me, I could feel his gaze.

An arrow of doubt suddenly shot through my chest. Had I been right in telling him this? My breath froze in my chest.

Slowly, I raised my head to meet his gaze.

**Note: I'm going to tell you all a very sad and very true story now. **

**I know that you people are reading this, because I see that you've put this on story alert, but I've only gotten a few reviews so far for the last few chapters. **

**Reviews are like candy to me. I love them. I sit at the computer for hours, watching my inbox for reviews. But my inbox remains sadly empty. **

**Please, help alleviate my sadness, and review.**


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